FBI Chief Kash Patel Halts Trump-Musk Mandate, Halts Federal Employee ‘Productivity Test’

Newly minted FBI Director Kash Patel directed his agency employees not to reply to an email from the Trump administration requesting federal employees to state their recent achievements. The instruction, issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), provided hundreds of thousands of workers with only 48 hours to respond, and it caused broad confusion in key federal agencies.

Patel, who was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, stepped in by instructing FBI staff to hold off until further notice from the Department of Justice. “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is responsible for all of our review processes and will perform reviews according to FBI procedures,” Patel wrote in an internal note. “Please hold off on any responses at this time.”

His order comes amid reports that Patel could soon be named acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Separately, US Attorney John Durham also told his employees to hold back their responses, citing fears of classified and law enforcement-sensitive work.

The review effort is the brainchild of tech mogul Elon Musk, who has been directed to reduce government spending during Trump’s second term. Musk indicated the request on his social media outlet, X, indicating that refusing to comply “will be taken as a resignation.” Federal workers, including court employees and judges, later received an email asking them to summarize their accomplishments in five bullet points by Monday evening.

The directive has been met with outrage from federal employee unions, with AFGE President Everett Kelley denouncing it as “cruel and disrespectful.” And while Musk has carried on with his drive for across-the-board government reductions, marking his achievement by wielding a chainsaw at a conservative event, labeling it the logo of his war on bureaucracy.