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Emails sent by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency asking federal workers to respond with five accomplishments have reportedly run into a technical hitch.
The billionaire ordered federal workers to email the Office of Personnel Management listing five weekly achievements as part of a drive by the Trump administration to drastically reduce federal staff numbers.
When workers submitted their lists, many received bounceback emails informing them that the department’s inbox was full, Bloomberg reports.
“The recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly,” emails received by workers seen by the outlet reportedly said.
The fault comes as Musk has branded himself and his DOGE team as the White House’s “tech support” and threatened to terminate workers who did not respond to the emails.
Employees across the Social Security Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service received the bounceback, according to ABC News.
The Independent has contacted the Office of Personnel Management for comment.
Enforcing Musk’s demand has “waned” at some agencies, sources told ABC News. “Some employees have simply stopped submitting their reports without consequence,” the outlet reports.
One employee told the outlet that they send the same five accomplishments to the Office of Personnel Management every week but are never questioned about it. Another said: “I don’t think anyone is reading these.”
The first email sent in February led to outrage and confusion among government departments. Some issued directives to workers telling them that the initiative was voluntary, contrary to what the White House was saying.
After a backlash, Musk said the emails were a way of checking if employees “had a pulse.”
“This was basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email,” Musk said. “This mess will get sorted out this week. Lot of people in for a rude awakening and strong dose of reality. They don’t get it yet, but they will.”
In his capacity as “tech support,” Musk and his DOGE team will assist the White House and National Security Council in investigating how a journalist was added to a Signal group chat with national security officials, the White House press secretary said on Wednesday.
“Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat. Again, to take responsibility and ensure this can never happen again,” Karoline Leavitt said.
