CNN
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Federal employees are raising alarms over Elon Musk’s push to reshape the US government, an effort now compounded by a weekend directive for workers to justify their jobs in writing. The mounting pressure has left many in the federal workforce feeling vulnerable.

Latisha Thompson, a clinical social worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Philadelphia, is among those crying foul over a Saturday email from the Office of Personnel Management that instructs workers to submit a list of tasks they performed on the job in the past week.

Thompson called the request “insulting and disrespectful” – not to mention possibly problematic for the privacy of the US veterans she works with in her job.

“I provide direct care to our veterans and there’s a lot of sensitive information about their health conditions that could be a part of what I do every day, and we do not intend on jeopardizing that integrity with this email,” Thompson said.

Musk, who has been tasked by President Donald Trump with reforming the federal government, announced the email was coming in a statement on X. Musk said failing to respond to the email would be “taken as a resignation,” though the email itself made no mention of that.

“Federal workers have no problem sharing what we do with the American public, but we do not respond or work for any individual entities, especially not tech billionaires like Elon Musk,” Thompson told CNN.

Thompson said she plans to follow guidance from her agency and union, the American Federation of Government Employees, on what to do with the email.

A host of major federal agencies, including the Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Energy, have instructed their staff not to reply to the email, with many pointing to existing agency systems for measuring employee performance.

Thompson predicts major impacts to the services the US government provides if broader efforts to slash the federal workforce come to fruition. Others across the country are echoing that warning, notably at US national parks.

In Ohio, fresh job cuts on top of a standing hiring freeze at Cuyahoga Valley National Park is squeezing resources ahead of a busy time for visitors, CNN affiliate WEWS reported.

“We’ve chronically underfunded our national parks, and now losing key staff positions at the same time we’re seeing more visitation is a problem locally and across the country,” said Deb Yandala, president and CEO of the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, a non-profit.

In Arizona, about 10% of US Forest Service workers have been impacted by recent job cuts, according to Matt Nelson, executive director of the non-profit Arizona Trail Association, which partners with federal workers to maintain trails.

“Without those people helping to safeguard these places and care for them, all of us are going to suffer,” Nelson told CNN affiliate KGUN.

CNN reported earlier this month that thousands of US Forest Service jobs are being cut nationwide.

A USDA spokesperson defended cuts in Arizona, describing them as necessary to eliminate wasteful spending.

“We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” the spokesperson told KGUN. The agency claimed all terminated positions were probationary, but Nelson disputed that, saying many affected employees were seasoned professionals.

At Yosemite National Park, some workers faced abrupt and ill-explained firings this month.

Andria Townsend, a specialist on carnivore species, was working late on a Friday, logging overtime as she often did, when an email landed in her inbox at nearly 10 p.m., CNN affiliate KFSN reported.

The content was as abrupt as it was devastating: She had been terminated effective immediately. Attached was a termination notice, citing her probationary status – she had been in her current role for less than a year – and claiming her “skills and knowledge did not meet the current needs of the administration.”

“I was given no time to reach out to colleagues or even clean out my office,” Townsend told KFSN. “It made me really angry. I work really hard at my job. I have two degrees … and to be told that I’m not meeting the standards of my job – it’s a complete lie.”

“What this means is that people who are already overworked and underpaid will now have to take on even more work,” she told the outlet.

The staffing crisis at Yosemite drew public attention on Saturday when an upside-down American flag – a symbol of distress – was unfurled at the park’s Horsetail Fall. The site, which attracts visitors for its annual Firefall display, has become a focal point for protests against the cuts.

“We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties,” Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic who helped hang the flag, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday.

For workers like Thompson and Townsend, the uncertainty is already disrupting their ability to serve veterans, protect public lands and steward the environment.

As Thompson put it, “We’re here to serve the American public, not private interests.”