White House: Federal Agency Heads Will Decide How Workers Should Respond to Mass Email

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that her own response to the email took ‘about a minute-and-a-half’ to think about what she had accomplished in a week.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on Feb. 25, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON—Agency directors in the executive branch will decide how each agency responds to the email asking federal employees what they accomplished in the past week, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“The agency heads will determine the best practices for their employees at their specific agencies,” Leavitt said during a press briefing on Feb. 25.

The email, which was sent this past week, asked employees to respond with five bullet points about what they accomplished in the previous week.

Elon Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), worked on the email with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the human resources arm of the executive branch, according to Leavitt.

“We advise federal workers, unless your agency has dictated you not to, to respond to this email,” she said.

Musk has said that failure to respond to the email would result in termination. On Feb. 24, he posted on social media platform X that “Subject to the discretion of the President,” workers who didn’t respond by the Feb. 24 deadline “will be given another chance” and that failure to respond a second time would result in termination.

Leavitt noted that more than 1 million federal employees have responded to the email, which was sent by OPM.

She said that she had responded to the email and that it took “about a minute-and-a-half” to think about what she accomplished in the past week.

“I do five things in about 10 minutes. And all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President [Donald] Trump is working and moving,” she said.

The initial email did not mandate a response, according to OPM. The office later clarified that it was up to the agencies to decide whether to respond.

Leavitt said agency heads told their employees not to respond, citing national security or confidential information.

She refuted media reporting alleging that there is a power struggle over who is in charge of federal employees.

Talking to reporters, Trump said that those who do not respond to the email “get fired.”

The email is to see whether “people exist,” he said.

“I could tell you five things I did six weeks ago,” Trump said.

At the end of the day, the agencies speak for him, according to the president.

“I’m the one. I'll take responsibility,” he said.

The email comes as DOGE has been seeking to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. This has resulted in the firing of federal employees and has led to lawsuits in federal courts.