Elon Musk, urged by President Donald Trump to "be more aggressive" in driving a reduction in federal employment, has told National Park Service workers and other federal employees to justify their positions in weekly emails or resign.
"Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager,” read the message sent Saturday from the Office of Personnel Management to all federal workers.
Musk followed it up with a tweet that lack of a response would be considered a resignation.
"This administration continues to cause unnecessary chaos," said Phil Francis, who heads the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks in response. "The demand that federal employees report five unspecified tasks to an apparently unsecured and 'external' email address shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how the federal government works, and a vast ignorance of personnel practices.
"Federal employees are held accountable for their work through an established and pre-existing chain of command," Francis added, "with supervisors who understand the needs and priorities of specific positions. This mandate is so ridiculous it's hard to formulate a response. Those in power seem to have forgotten the law and human decency."
The OPM email stated that the responses for what federal employees did the previous week must be received by close of business on Mondays. How that deadline would be met by NPS staff that might be on leave, or out of the reach of email in a park's backcountry, was unknown.
"Staff are afraid they'll be fired no matter how they answer," said a former park superintendent who's closely followed the administration's actions.
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