Top officials of President Donald Trump’s administration — including newly-confirmed FBI director Kash Patel — are instructing their employees not to respond to an email sent late Saturday from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which asked them to justify their jobs. Trump senior advisor Elon Musk has warned that failure to respond to the email will be considered a resignation.

Sent late Saturday with the subject line “What did you do last week?”, the email — which was sent to staff at multiple federal agencies — demanded federal employees justify their jobs.

“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the email said. “Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.”

In advance of the email, Musk — who Trump identified as being “in charge” of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), in contrast to what his own White House has said in legal filings — posted on X that there would be dire consequences for those who ignore the request.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

In an email obtained by NBC’s Ken Dilanian, Patel instructed the FBI employees now under his charge not to respond to the email — despite the ultimatum from Musk.

“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Patel wrote. “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”

CBS’ Margaret Brennan and others have posted similar guidance from leaders of other federal agencies — instructing their employees not to respond to the OPM email.

Unions representing federal workers are reportedly furious with Musk over the email demand — which gives workers until Monday at 11:59 p.m. to respond.

“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,” Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told CNN.

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