Musk renews firing threat after being stymied by federal officials | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
July 22, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2025
Musk renews firing threat after being stymied by federal officials

USA

Reuters
25 February, 2025, 10:55 am
Last modified: 25 February, 2025, 11:01 am

Related News

  • Trump pledged to save Afghans. But UAE had already sent some evacuees back
  • Philippines' Marcos to meet Trump hoping to secure trade deal
  • Trump administration urges court to unseal Epstein docs
  • US judge weighs putting new block on Trump's birthright citizenship order
  • Tesla IT exec with no traditional car-sales experience is running sales: sources

Musk renews firing threat after being stymied by federal officials

The US agency that oversees federal employees said on Monday they could ignore a weekend email from Musk that required them to summarize their work or face losing their jobs

Reuters
25 February, 2025, 10:55 am
Last modified: 25 February, 2025, 11:01 am
File Photo: Billionaire Elon Musk at the Capitol Hill in the US on 5 December 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
File Photo: Billionaire Elon Musk at the Capitol Hill in the US on 5 December 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Elon Musk, President Donald Trump's point person to root out what he says is government waste, on Monday renewed his threat to fire federal workers who do not comply with his demand to justify their jobs, even after the Trump administration said workers did not have to respond.

The US agency that oversees federal employees said on Monday they could ignore a weekend email from Musk that required them to summarize their work or face losing their jobs. The directive sparked widespread confusion across the federal government and raised questions about how much actual authority Musk, the world's richest man, possesses within the administration.

As the deadline for response grew near on Monday, Musk, whom Trump appointed to head up a newly named Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has tasked to radically downsize the government, seemed to acknowledge that his plan had run aground.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!" Musk posted on X, the social media site he owns. "Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."

Musk went on to say, "Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk's remarks.

It was unclear whether Musk was aware of the guidance the US Office of Personnel Management released earlier on Monday telling human resources officials at federal agencies that employees would not be let go for not replying to Musk's email - nor were staff required to respond to it.

The memo said responding to the email was voluntary. It also urged employees not to share confidential, sensitive or classified information in their responses, a concern of critics of Musk's action.

Even after that guidance was issued, some agencies nudged their employees to respond.

A senior manager at the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings, told employees that the agency was still encouraging workers to answer the email even if it was voluntary, according to a GSA source.

Similarly, the acting director of OPM itself sent an email to the agency's staff that said responding with bullet points was voluntary "but strongly encouraged."

RESISTANCE TO MUSK'S ORDER

The Department of Health and Human Services advised employees that if they chose to reply, they should keep their responses general in nature and that they should refrain from identifying specific drugs or contracts they are working on, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.

"Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly," the email said.

Musk's downsizing initiative, known as DOGE, has rippled into the wider US economy as well, forcing companies that do business with the government to lay off workers and defer payments to vendors.

Musk's Saturday message took some administration officials by surprise, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Adding to the confusion, Trump stood by Musk. "I thought it was great," he told reporters at the White House earlier on Monday. "There was a lot of genius in sending it. We're trying to find out if people were working."

In other Monday action, a federal judge blocked the government downsizing team created by Trump and led by Musk from accessing sensitive data maintained by the US Education Department and the OPM.

Unlike Cabinet appointees and appointees to head up independent federal agencies, Musk's appointment required no approval by the US Senate.

UNIONS SUE OVER MUSK EMAIL

Also on Monday, a group of labor unions that have asked a federal judge to stop the mass firings updated their lawsuit to request that Musk's email be ruled illegal.

Prior to the OPM directive, senior officials at the Department of Justice, as well as the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security and several other agencies had told workers not to respond outside their established chain of command.

The Transportation Department, the Treasury Department and independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission have told employees to answer Musk's message.

Musk has reveled in the upheaval, even wielding a chainsaw at a conservative political conference last week.

In addition, his email was sent to political appointees at the White House who presumably would not be viewed with suspicion by the president, according to two sources.

It also was sent to federal judges and other employees of the court system, who make up a separate branch of government and do not answer to the administration.

More than 20,000 workers have been laid off as part of the downsizing effort.

DOWNSIZING, REHIRING

The confusion echoed the broader turmoil surrounding Trump's return to power.

Since taking office on January 20, Trump has frozen billions of dollars in foreign assistance and effectively dismantled the US Agency for International Development, which administers some 60% of US foreign assistance, stranding medicine and food in warehouses.

Trump has ordered employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to cease working, though they also received Musk's email asking that they outline their work activities over the past week. The Trump administration has separately offered buyouts to 75,000 workers.

In some cases, the government has scrambled to rehire workers who perform critical functions like nuclear weapons oversight and bird flu response. The downsizing has prompted a wave of lawsuits.

Top News / World+Biz

Trump administration / Donald Trump / Elon Musk / DOGE

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • An ambulance crowded in the aftermath of the plane crash in the capital on 21 July. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    Wails of despair and pain reverberate at national burn institute
  • The jet plane charred after crash on 21 July at the Milestone school premises. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    Apocalypse at school 
  • Photo was taken on 21 July by Syed Zakir Hossain/ TBS
    Govt to bear full treatment costs for Milestone plane crash victims

MOST VIEWED

  • Training aircraft crashes at the Diabari campus of Milestone College on 21 July 2025. Photo: Courtesy
    BAF jet crash at Milestone school: At least 20 including children, pilot dead; 171 hospitalised
  • Flight Lieutenant Md Towkir Islam. Photo: Collected
    Pilot tried to avoid disaster by steering crashing jet away from populated area: ISPR
  • TBS Illustration
    US tariff: Dhaka open to trade concessions but set to reject non-trade conditions
  • 91-day treasury bills rate falls 1.13 percentage points to 10.45% in a week
    91-day treasury bills rate falls 1.13 percentage points to 10.45% in a week
  • An idle luxury: Built at a cost of Tk450 crore, this rest house near Parki Beach in Anwara upazila has stood unused for six months. Perched on the southern bank of the Karnaphuli, the facility now awaits a private lease as the Bridge Division seeks to put it to use. Photo: Md Minhaz Uddin
    Karnaphuli Tunnel’s service area holds tourism promises, but tall order ahead
  • Bangladesh declares one-day state mourning following plane crash on school campus
    Bangladesh declares one-day state mourning following plane crash on school campus

Related News

  • Trump pledged to save Afghans. But UAE had already sent some evacuees back
  • Philippines' Marcos to meet Trump hoping to secure trade deal
  • Trump administration urges court to unseal Epstein docs
  • US judge weighs putting new block on Trump's birthright citizenship order
  • Tesla IT exec with no traditional car-sales experience is running sales: sources

Features

Illustration: TBS

Uttara, Jatrabari, Savar and more: The killing fields that ran red with July martyrs’ blood

3h | Panorama
Despite all the adversities, girls from the hill districts are consistently pushing the boundaries to earn repute and make the nation proud. Photos: TBS

Despite poor accommodation, Ghagra’s women footballers bring home laurels

1d | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Water-resistant footwear: A splash of style in every step

1d | Brands
Tottho Apas have been protesting in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka for months, with no headway in sight. Photo: Mehedi Hasan

From empowerment to exclusion: The crisis facing Bangladesh’s Tottho Apas

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

More training plane crashes in Bangladesh

More training plane crashes in Bangladesh

3h | TBS Today
Bird's Eye View of the Sirased Plane Rescue Operation

Bird's Eye View of the Sirased Plane Rescue Operation

4h | TBS Today
How law enforcement is carrying out rescue operations

How law enforcement is carrying out rescue operations

5h | TBS Today
News of The Day, 21 JULY 2025

News of The Day, 21 JULY 2025

6h | TBS News of the day
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net