Musk’s ‘what did you do last week’ email to government staffers suffers spectacular fail as DOGE buckles

‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk’s controversial order for all federal employees to send a weekly list of their accomplishments has hit a humiliating snag.

Workers across a variety of agencies reported this week that when they tried to send their list of five things they accomplished in the previous week, their emails bounced back, according to ABC News.

They instead received a message saying the mailbox at the Office of Personnel Management is full and cannot receive any more emails.

‘The recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now,’ the return email read. ‘Please try resending your message later or contact the recipient directly.’

The technical issue has affected employees at the IRS, Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Amid the issue, some agency heads have directed their staff to send their reports to a different email address.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, employees received an email on Monday stating, ‘We are aware that emails… are being returned as undeliverable. Please send your weekly accomplishments to [an alternative email address] and CC your supervisor.’

Meanwhile, at the Securities and Exchange COO Ken Johnson told employees that if they received a bounce-back email ‘then please save your email to OPM for your records, but otherwise there is nothing more you need to do today’ in an email seen by The Bulwark.

Musk had originally asked federal employees to send their list of accomplishments at the end of February as part of his effort to downsize the federal government. 

It asked the workers to reply to the email with ‘approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week’ and gave a deadline of that Monday at 11.59pm EST to send their explanation of work.

The Tesla CEO posted on X that any failure to respond would be ‘taken as resignation.’ 

But some government employees publicly bashed the directive as ‘harassment’ and say the requirement to justify their weekly tasks amounts to a ‘hostile work environment.’

Some Trump appointees, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel, even instructed their employees not to respond.

In a message sent to officials, Gabbard wrote: ‘Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, I.C. employees should not respond to the OPM email.’ 

Patel also made it clear that the FBI ‘is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.’

‘When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,’ he told his employees. 

Similarly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Department of Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem also told employees to disregard the controversial email.

Musk tried to push back against the backlash, claiming it is a ‘trivial’ task that is often done in the private sector.

But in the end, just over one million people – fewer than half of all federal employees – responded to the email in that first week they were asked for submissions, Bloomberg reports. 

In the month since, multiple sources told ABC News that enforcement of the requirement has waned – with some agencies and employees seemingly no longer submitting their reports without facing any consequences.

One employee even told the outlet that some staffers are openly mocking DOGE in their reports, saying: ‘I don’t think anyone is reading these.’ 

The lack of enforcement appears to have come after President Trump was forced to make it clear earlier this month that Musk is not in charge of hiring or firing – and can only make recommendations to agency heads.

The president then told his Cabinet members they need to be more selective if they continue to conduct clear-outs of their workforce amid ongoing protests against DOGE’s wide-ranging cuts.

Instead of taking a ‘hatchet’ approach to trimming the fat, Trump said he wants his secretaries to use a ‘scalpel’ for ‘surgical’ precision over who they dismiss.

The Cabinet meeting marked the first time the president was willing to rein in Musk, and on Monday, Trump seemed to suggest the SpaceX CEO’s government work may soon be complete.

‘We’re getting down to a point [where] we think probably over the next two or three months, we’ll be pretty much satisfied with the people that are working hard and want to be members of the administration and our country,’ he said at a cabinet meeting.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Office of Personnel Management for comment.