FBI, Pentagon, State Department, and Other Agencies Refuse to Comply with Elon Musk's Request

Leaders of several U.S. agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Pentagon, the State Department, the Office of National Intelligence, and the Department of Homeland Security, have directed their subordinates not to respond to a request from the U.S. government's Office of Efficiency (DOGE) to report on their work performed throughout the week. This information was reported by the New York Times (NYT) on Sunday.

Earlier, DOGE's executive director Elon Musk announced that U.S. government employees would receive letters demanding that they provide reports on their work done during the week, and that failure to respond would be considered grounds for dismissal.

The order to ignore the demand can be viewed as one of the first serious tests of the extent of Musk's authority, according to NYT. This also indicates that there is growing dissatisfaction among President Donald Trump's administration regarding the businessman's actions, the publication believes.

According to Reuters, state employees from some agencies received the correspondence already on Saturday evening. It is noted that in response to the letter with the question “What did you do last week?”, state employees are expected to submit a five-point report detailing their work by Monday.

After his inauguration on January 20, Trump appointed Musk as the head of DOGE. This agency has begun a massive audit of U.S. budget expenditures. Overall, Musk aims to cut federal spending by $2 trillion.