Rebellion against Musk? US officials should be allowed to refuse orders

Elon Musk demands proof of employment from civil servants - anyone who doesn't respond should leave. Several authorities are not complying. Musk is toughening his tone.

The instructions that Elon Musk sent to millions of US government employees were actually clear. "What did you do last week?" was the subject line of an email that, according to court documents, was sent to millions of civil servants last weekend. The email also asked them to write a short statement of work and send it back to their supervisor and the Department of Human Resources.

The officials had been given until Monday evening, 11:59 p.m. (local time) to do so. After that, the deadline for providing information about their own work performance expired - labor law consequences had been announced in the event of refusal. Musk made the matter public on his X platform on Saturday in his usual manner and announced that all federal employees would receive a corresponding email. "Failure to respond will be considered termination," he threatened.

But then something happened that few people had expected. There was opposition. US media reported that several authorities had been instructed not to follow Musk's bold call. The government employees' union (AFGE) also opposed the order. It took legal action against the order, as court documents show.

On Monday, it was also announced that the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees the 2.3 million employees of the US federal government, also informed all federal employees that they can ignore the tech billionaire's weekend email.

The 53-year-old entrepreneur's reaction followed on Monday evening. At X, he expressed his outrage at the federal employees' refusal - and gave them a new ultimatum. Everyone is required to provide proof of employment, he stressed, and announced that employees in federal agencies would be given "another chance, subject to the discretion of the President." "If they do not respond a second time, this will result in termination," he wrote.

But Musk wouldn't be Musk if he didn't follow up his demand with a rant. And that's exactly what he did. He didn't understand how anyone could fail such a simple task, he wrote on X. "Yet so many have failed even this absurd test, in some cases at the insistence of their managers," he added. "Have you ever seen such INCOMPETENCE and RESPONSIBILITY for how YOUR TAXES are spent?" he asked.

The Tesla CEO and head of the space company SpaceX has recently become the US President's efficiency commissioner. On Donald Trump's orders, he is supposed to streamline the US administration. Musk is using a chainsaw to do this, as he himself recently demonstrated unequivocally on the stage of the right-wing conservative CPAC conference. Layoffs, threats and radical budget cuts have so far been his means of choice to reform the US administration.

But apparently some US officials are not willing to accept the drastic measures. Musk responded to a high-ranking official in the US Department of Defense, who had sharply criticized the instruction according to media reports, by saying on X: "Anyone who has the attitude of this Pentagon official should look for a new job." US media reports that different directives were issued in some agencies on how to deal with Musk's email. There is talk of great "confusion" in the US administration.