Department of Government Efficiency head says he wants to test whether federal employees are ‘capable of replying to an email’

Summary

Elon Musk admitted that his mass email to federal employees demanding weekly accomplishment reports sent to him or risk termination was a test to gauge responsiveness.

Musk tried to frame the move as a “pulse check” on bureaucrats.

The email caused confusion, with some agency leaders advising staff to ignore it, while others initially instructed compliance before reversing course.

A rift emerged as top officials at the FBI, Pentagon, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Energy openly defied Musk’s directive, highlighting tensions within the administration.

  • ripcord@lemmy.world
    4·
    5 hours ago

    I dont see anything in the article that indicates that’s what he meant. Or that he “admitted” it was a “ruse”.

    He seems to be saying specifically that it was real and intentional and was planned to be used. He is just saying that he wanted to get a list of which people did/didn’t respond. What he planned to do with it is still a mystery, but using lack of response as justification to fire people seems like one good bet.