'What did you do last week? Part II': Elon Musk-led DOGE sends a second email to US federal workforce

The U.S. federal workforce received a second email late Friday, asking employees to justify their jobs as part of President Donald Trump's broader initiative to cut government spending.

This follow-up message came just a week after Elon Musk, whom Trump appointed to oversee the downsizing of the government, sent a similar mass email requesting federal workers to provide evidence of their job duties or face potential dismissal.

The first email, sent by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), had caused confusion among federal employees, with multiple agencies instructing staff to disregard it.


Despite the confusion, the new email, which was sent from Musk's newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), followed a more structured approach.

The subject line of the second email, "What did you do last week? Part II," directed employees to submit a list of accomplishments in bullet-point form, outlining their work for the past week.

It further instructed employees to send their responses to their managers and to expect this task to be a weekly requirement moving forward.

The email read, “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets describing what you accomplished last week and CC your manager.”

It also clarified that employees working in sensitive or classified positions could simply respond with “All of my activities are sensitive.” Unlike the first message, which was viewed as a general check-in, the new directive requires federal workers to submit their weekly reports by the end of each Monday.

Elon Musk, who heads the new department with the goal of reducing government waste and inefficiencies, has not publicly commented on the new round of emails through his social media platform, X.

However, Musk had previously described the first email as a "check" to determine whether employees were actively engaged and able to respond.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Musk for his efforts, although he encouraged Musk to take a more aggressive approach with the initiative.

(With inputs from AFP)