President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 24 in Washington, D.C.

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Federal agencies are split on whether employees should comply with Elon Musk’s directive to list five accomplishments in the past week, sowing more confusion as the midnight deadline for responding looms, according to emails seen by NPR, even as the agency overseeing the request issued guidance late Monday suggesting employee responses are ultimately voluntary.

Over the weekend, officials at the Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security and Energy told workers not to respond to the government-wide “What did you do last week?” email sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Saturday. At DHS, that contradicted earlier guidance from leaders at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FEMA, which are both housed within DHS.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff were initially told to reply, but then received a Sunday evening email asking them to “pause” responses pending additional guidance. Late Monday, a third email told employees, “There is no HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond.”

For those that chose to respond, the Department advised them not to name other HHS employees they worked with, matters they are working on, or specific grants or contracts. “Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly,” the email warned.

Meanwhile, agencies including the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Commerce and Interior Departments instructed their employees to respond with a range of instructions on how to do so while also reminding them not to share classified information.

The internal emails were shared with NPR by current and former government employees who wanted to remain anonymous because they fear retaliation by the Trump administration and in some cases are still working at agencies where they are not authorized to share information.

By late Monday afternoon, OPM updated its guidance to agencies, according to messages circulated at HHS and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In a memo obtained by NPR, EEOC said that OPM told agencies to communicate to staff that “any employee response to the email is voluntary” and that “not responding will not be considered a resignation.”

The new guidance contradicts claims made by Musk and President Trump that those who did not respond were at risk of losing their jobs.

Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, made unfounded claims that some federal workers aren’t answering the email because “they don’t even exist.”

“And then if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people are not answering because they don’t even exist,” he said, without giving evidence.

Trump added that agencies that told workers not to respond, including the State Department and the FBI, did so “in a friendly manner.”

“They don’t mean that in any way combatively with Elon. They’re just saying there are some people that you don’t want to really have them tell you what they’re working on last week,” the president said.

OPM did not respond to NPR’s request for comment or further clarification.

Questions over who is in charge 

The divided response among federal agencies is the most visible sign of pushback by some officials — including at the most powerful cabinet agencies that deal with national security — to Musk’s aggressive reshaping of the government through his Department of Government Efficiency effort.

That includes the State Department, where a senior official told staff the department would respond on its own behalf, according to a screenshot of the communication obtained by NPR. “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside their Department chain of command,” the official’s email said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright also asserted his department’s authority to manage his staff in a message to employees on Sunday that NPR has seen. “The Department of Energy is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” Wright wrote. “When and if required, the Department will provide a coordinated response to the OPM email.” His email used identical language to a message sent by the Defense Department the same day and also seen by NPR.

The shifting and at times contradictory guidance has left many federal workers confused and asking who is in charge, according to multiple interviews by NPR with those affected. They described a weekend of chaos sparked first by an X post from Musk previewing the email and warning that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” and then by the OPM email itself, which included no such ultimatum.

“My entire weekend has been a stress-filled ball of crazy. No one seems to know who is running the country. No one knows what we are supposed to do,” said one federal employee who had received a series of changing instructions from supervisors on whether or not to comply with the request. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because they are still employed by a federal agency and fear retaliation in their job.

Despite the latest guidance that responding is voluntary, some federal workers feel they have little choice.

“I hate to comply but I feel it’s safer to respond,” said another federal employee who also spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation. “Whiplash is an accurate description to micromanagement from a shadow office,” they added.

Unions update legal action

Many federal workers are covered by civil service protections that prevent them from being fired without cause.

Adding to the confusion, at least some contractors who do work for the government but are not federal employees also received the email asking for their output, NPR has learned. These contractors are not included in data that tracks federal workforce data and are not hired or fired directly by the government.

A coalition of groups, including labor unions, has asked a federal court in San Francisco to temporarily block the Trump administration from firing probationary employees and from soliciting responses to OPM’s email.

The lawsuit, originally filed on Feb. 19, argues that OPM has no authority to manage employees of federal agencies other than its own.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup gave the government until 10 a.m. PT Wednesday to file its opposition, and scheduled a hearing for Thursday afternoon.

NPR’s Tom Bowman, Geoff Brumfiel, Tamara Keith, Megan Lim, Hansi Lo Wang and Jenna McLaughlin contributed reporting.