A clash has erupted between Elon Musk, heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and senior advisor to President Trump, and several federal agencies, including the Department of Defense (DOD), the FBI, and the State Department. Musk's directive, requiring federal employees to report their weekly productivity or face presumed resignation, has been met with resistance from agency heads, who have instructed their staff to disregard the request.

Darin S. Selnick, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, issued a memo to DOD personnel advising them to hold off on responding to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) email distributing Musk's productivity questionnaire. Selnick affirmed that the DOD is solely responsible for evaluating its workforce's performance and will adhere to its established procedures.

Similarly, newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel instructed FBI employees to ignore the OPM email, stating that the FBI's internal review processes would govern performance evaluations. The State Department echoed this sentiment, with Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy, acting under secretary of state for management, assuring employees that the department would handle any necessary response.

Musk's initial announcement on X (formerly Twitter) stated that non-response to the productivity inquiry would be interpreted as resignation, a stance later softened to suggest that even brief bullet points would suffice. An OPM spokesperson confirmed the initiative, framing it as part of the Trump administration's focus on workforce efficiency and accountability, leaving further actions to individual agencies.

This interagency conflict highlights the tension between Musk's drive for government efficiency and the established protocols within federal departments. The situation raises questions about the authority of the DOGE and the potential impact on federal employee morale and operations.