The Pentagon has ended Elon Musk’s directive for federal workers to provide a list of five of their accomplishments every week as it distances itself from one of DOGE’s most contentious policies.
In an email informing staff of the change, civilian employees were instead asked to “be creative” and come up with their own ideas to help Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut waste.
“I’d like to thank you for submitting weekly achievements over the past couple of months,” wrote acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jules Hurst.
“To conclude the “five bullet” exercise, we need one last input from you… Please submit one idea that will improve the Department’s efficiency or root out waste. It can be big or small. It can be focused on a particular program or on larger Department operations – I invite you to be creative.”
The department has required weekly emails from staff since March, shortly after Musk demanded in February that federal employees explain their work to him as he began to take an axe to the government.
The DOGE directive resulted in 2.3 million people receiving an email titled “What did you do last week?” from the government’s Office of Personnel Management.
But it prompted widespread anger and confusion, particularly when Musk declared on X: “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
While Hegseth’s department initially told employees not to respond, he later signed a memo asking staff to send a weekly email with “five bullets on their previous week’s achievements”.
“Non-compliance may lead to further review,” he said at the time.
Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it was about time the department scrapped the policy.
“Good riddance,” he told the Daily Beast.
“For months, dedicated Defense Department civilians received Elon Musk’s insulting ‘five things’ emails. Many of these people served in the military, are highly trained and experienced, and are doing this job because they actually care about the mission.
“And yet, they were being constantly pummeled with these communications from DOGE questioning their dedication and the value of their work.”
The department gave employees until midday on Wednesday to come up with ideas to cut waste and find ways to be more efficient, but has declined to say what kind of responses had been received so far.
The end of the weekly emails came as Musk prepared to officially step down from his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
The Tesla chief posted on Wednesday night that his time as a special government employee was coming to an end and thanked Trump for the chance to cut down on wasteful spending.
But the billionaire, who spent at least $250 million to back Trump’s 2024 campaign, has made no secret of his frustration with politics, telling a conference earlier this month that he had “done enough” to help Republicans get elected.
This week, he also lamented the lack of DOGE savings in the Trump-backed “big, beautiful bill”.
“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk wrote in his post.
In a statement, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the end of the weekly emails, which he said, “provided leaders and supervisors with additional insights into their employees’ contributions, fostered accountability, and helped to identify opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness throughout the Department.
“The department remains committed to driving meaningful change in support of the mission,” he added.
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