Elon Musk Clarifies Email to Federal Workers as Some Agencies Ask Staff Not to Respond
The head of DOGE said there are examples of ‘non-existent people’ or ‘dead people’ being used to collect federal paychecks.

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, said on Feb. 23 that an email to federal employees asking them to report their accomplishments over the past week is designed to root out fraud from people who aren’t working.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were given about 48 hours to provide a response to the email. The deadline to reply is listed as 11:59 p.m. local time on Feb. 24, although the email did not include the same warning that Musk had issued in a separate post on social media platform X.
“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk wrote in a Feb. 22 post on X.
Musk wrote in a post on the morning of Feb. 23, “The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!” Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump, was reacting to a post about his email.
“In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks,” Musk said. “In other words, there is outright fraud.”
Earlier on Feb. 23, Musk said that workers who provide “good responses” may receive promotions.
McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson at the Office of Personnel Management, confirmed Musk’s directive and said that individual agencies will “determine any next steps.”
Meanwhile, in a message to employees on the night of Feb. 22, federal court officials instructed recipients not to respond after some had received the email.
“We understand that some judges and judiciary staff have received an email. ... directing the recipient to reply with 5 accomplishments from the prior week. Please be advised that this email did not originate from the Judiciary or the Administrative Office and we suggest that no action be taken,” judiciary officials wrote.
Some federal agencies also told their employees that they did not have to comply if they received Musk’s message.
“The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” according to an email from Tibor Nagy, acting undersecretary for management at the State Department.
The Epoch Times reached out to the State Department on Feb. 23 for more information.
Since the start of the Trump administration on Jan. 20, thousands of government employees have been laid off at a multitude of agencies, while others have opted to leave under a buyout from the Trump administration. Those layoffs, in part, occurred as DOGE, created by Trump via executive order, is attempting to root out fraud and waste.
Some union leaders were critical of the email to federal workers to provide details on what they did over the past week.
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley said the new email-based directive is an example of Trump’s and Musk’s “utter disdain” for the federal workforce and signaled that his union would challenge the order.
“It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” Kelley said in a statement on Feb. 22. “AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.”
Dozens of lawsuits have already been filed against the Trump administration, DOGE, and Musk over their efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce or to eliminate certain programs. Several judges have sided with the administration in recent days, however, including U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in a ruling issued last week that declined to immediately block DOGE from accessing government data.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...lead-story-0-title-1

Who cashes them?

^^^ Probably direct deposit. Shouldn't be too hard to track down.

I posted this in another President year 5…


posted February 24, 2025 07:01 AM Hide Post
From Washington Post-

“ Elon Musk’s demand that federal workers justify their work is causing chaos.
What to know: Musk ordered all 2.3 million government employees to list their achievements or risk losing their jobs. Some officials, including defense leaders, told staff not to respond.”

In every job i have ever had, providing five bullet points for a week´s work would be very simple. I do not understand the reason for pushing against it!

Please give a rationale…

I was a Foreman at a power company and for the last year before I retired I had to submit a weekly report of what I got accomplished . I didn't like it but I didn't have the option to complain .

quote:

The head of DOGE said there are examples of ‘non-existent people’ or ‘dead people’ being used to collect federal paychecks.

How do I become a ‘non-existent person’ and collect a federal paycheck?
Hell, nevermind the paycheck. I'd just like to become a ‘non-existent person’ to the federal government. I just want them to leave me be. I'll keep what I've earned and just ask to be able to opt out of all the BS.

If there are a bunch of ghost workers on the books, it might help reconcile the feds saying "we are horribly understaffed/overworked" with the size of their workforce, relative to their workload.

I may be one of those "non-existent" people. I was a reemployed annuitant with my old agency for a short time after retirement, working on a project that required somewhat specialized knowledge but didn't require a full-time permanent position dedicated to it. Hiring a temp to run it was the most cost-effective solution.

My last day on the project was in October 2024; computer, phone, creds turned in, no more system or email access, thanks (again) for your service and enjoy yelling at the clouds. All as it should be.

I suspect, though haven't checked-- because it doesn't effect my retired life one iota-- they never actually cut an SF-52 to terminate me, because it costs them nothing to keep me active in the payroll system. Unless they input time/earnings for me, nothing gets paid. My temporary appointment "not to exceed" date will probably generate a personnel action automatically next week, but until then I'm one of those ghosts. I'll happily make myself available for DOGE to interview as long as they bring doughnuts.

Wasn't there a case several years ago of a guy who had a no-show gov't. job for many years and, when he got caught, claimed he was on loan to the CIA, who would neither confirm nor deny it? IIRC, he made off with many years of no-show salary, benefits and retirement.

Within the hour OPM has clarified that the replies are voluntary and that not replying was not tantamount to retirement.

Elon's request was poorly written and not very well thought out as a once size fits all and the pushback was inevitable.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Wasn't there a case several years ago of a guy who had a no-show gov't. job for many years and, when he got caught, claimed he was on loan to the CIA, who would neither confirm nor deny it? IIRC, he made off with many years of no-show salary, benefits and retirement.

Yes. By day, a mild-mannered program specialist at EPA. At night, super-spy for the 'IA.

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
I may be one of those "non-existent" people. I was a reemployed annuitant with my old agency for a short time after retirement, working on a project that required somewhat specialized knowledge but didn't require a full-time permanent position dedicated to it. Hiring a temp to run it was the most cost-effective solution.

My last day on the project was in October 2024; computer, phone, creds turned in, no more system or email access, thanks (again) for your service and enjoy yelling at the clouds. All as it should be.

I suspect, though haven't checked-- because it doesn't effect my retired life one iota-- they never actually cut an SF-52 to terminate me, because it costs them nothing to keep me active in the payroll system. Unless they input time/earnings for me, nothing gets paid. My temporary appointment "not to exceed" date will probably generate a personnel action automatically next week, but until then I'm one of those ghosts. I'll happily make myself available for DOGE to interview as long as they bring doughnuts.

I don’t know how any gov. Entity can claim they are understaffed.


From 2000 to 2020 the gov. added 240,000 jobs. From 2020 to 2024 the gov. added 300,000 jobs.

Biden was just loading up on gov. workers so his job reports looked good. They were bloated before he was in office and it’s ridiculous now.

^^^ Do you have links to those numbers? Not that I don't believe you, but I'd like to pass this info on.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
^^^ Do you have links to those numbers? Not that I don't believe you, but I'd like to pass this info on.

I as well, if accurate those numbers are astounding!

I’m just not understanding all the outrage… I worked for the government for over 3 decades. I was required to provide my supervisor a weekly report on my section operations. It wasn’t a big deal. I guess the anti-Trump horde just need something to fake outrage over… sigh…

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
I may be one of those "non-existent" people. I was a reemployed annuitant with my old agency for a short time after retirement, working on a project that required somewhat specialized knowledge but didn't require a full-time permanent position dedicated to it. Hiring a temp to run it was the most cost-effective solution.

My last day on the project was in October 2024; computer, phone, creds turned in, no more system or email access, thanks (again) for your service and enjoy yelling at the clouds. All as it should be.

I suspect, though haven't checked-- because it doesn't effect my retired life one iota-- they never actually cut an SF-52 to terminate me, because it costs them nothing to keep me active in the payroll system. Unless they input time/earnings for me, nothing gets paid. My temporary appointment "not to exceed" date will probably generate a personnel action automatically next week, but until then I'm one of those ghosts. I'll happily make myself available for DOGE to interview as long as they bring doughnuts.

I don’t know how any gov. Entity can claim they are understaffed.


From 2000 to 2020 the gov. added 240,000 jobs. From 2020 to 2024 the gov. added 300,000 jobs.

Biden was just loading up on gov. workers so his job reports looked good. They were bloated before he was in office and it’s ridiculous now.

EXACTLY what Obama Did! (what a coincidence!)

"This month marks 10 years since John C. Beale, the highest-paid employee at the Environmental Protection Agency, was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison. Beale told his bosses he was a CIA spy working in London, India and Pakistan when he was actually kicking back at his vacation home. That fakery was hardly his only problem."

https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=14770

To combat employee "fakery", time card management is a good tool. I worked 21+ years as a full-time gubment contractor, and I had to complete time accounting on a daily basis, as part of a gubment requirement. Imagine that. Even later, when I worked for 2+ years as a part-time gubment contractor "consultant" in a remote location, the requirement was the same.

On a similar note to the subject of this post, football is the dominant sport in Alabama, especially in high school sports. However, every year, there are stories of players with "questionable eligibility" for school districts, due to fake or suspect addresses - empty lots, businesses, churches, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Lineman101:
I was required to provide my supervisor a weekly report on my section operations. It wasn’t a big deal.

Every hour of the last 22 years of my career was accounted for.

Rounding? Sure. Perhaps it was only 50 minutes of travel, and not exactly an hour. On the other side, maybe it was 50 minutes of work on whatever matter, even though my time report says it was 30.

But "Figure out what Dennis was doing last pay period" was never an issue because in addition to the time report, there was always an actual work product to show.

I don't get this outrage. Well, I DO get it, but I just can't muster up any. Do what you're paid to do. That's a good starting baseline.