New York: US domestic intelligence head Kash Patel and other top government officials in sensitive areas are defying Elon Musk, telling employees to ignore the billionaire businessman’s order to send five bullet-pointed responses about their work the previous week or be fired.
Musk set a Monday deadline for the more than 2.5 million federal employees to reply or lose their jobs.
The defiance of investigative, intelligence, defence, and diplomacy officials tests Musk’s authority that flows directly from President Donald Trump, who has given him a mission to cut costs and improve efficiency at the federal government.
If Trump backs Musk, that could lead to a widespread showdown across areas vital to national security.
Musk and Trump are appealing to the scepticism of most citizens towards the working of the bureaucracy and antipathy towards government employees.
Musk posted on X, “The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!”
Patel, who became the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last week, sent a memo to the employees of his agency asking them not to respond to Musk’s demand.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard wrote a similar note to the Intelligence Community made up of agencies under her supervision.
She pointed out that the nature of their work is “inherently sensitive and classified.”
The National Security Agency and the Defence, Homeland Security, and State departments have also instructed their staff to ignore the directive from Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency. (DOGE).
The disclosures of the work done in these departments and agencies could compromise investigations and the work on sensitive cases.
Staking his authority, Patel wrote, “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.”
Musk has not responded to Patel or Gabbard but threatened on X that “anyone with the attitude of that Pentagon official needs to look for a new job.”
Darin Selnick, the acting under-secretary for personnel and readiness, issued the instruction countermanding Musk’s demand.
Musk was behind shutting down USAID, the government’s international assistance agency, and the mass firings of employees in some departments and probationers.
Despite its official-sounding name, DOGE is formally not a government department and has no constitutional or legal standing by itself.
Trump has not so far involved himself with the defiance of some agency and department leaders beyond writing on Truth Social, “Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive. Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than ever before.”
He also posted Musk’s response to his own demand in which he claimed he had “streamlined a filing process, cutting retrieval time by 20 per cent,” briefed officials on a secret project, and “drafted a memo that sparked a new interdepartmental initiative.”
Musk also does not seem to care for the Constitution, which does not give the executive branch powers over the judiciary to guarantee the independence of judges.
After federal judges received demands to state their work over the past week, the federal court’s administrative office told them not to act on it.
Musk, however, has also received support from other officials.
Washington’s acting federal prosecutor, Ed Martin, praised the DOGE and Elon and said, “We are happy to participate.”
Some of Musk’s firings have gone way off target, directly affecting national security.
Last week, the National Nuclear Safety Agency, which manages the nuclear arsenal, had to recall most of the 300 staff ordered laid off because of imminent threats to national security.
Although not directly linked to national security, the Food and Drug Administration recalled some dismissed scientists who were working on Musk’s company, Neuralink.
Firing them could give the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The courts would ultimately decide the mass firings of government employees, and unions have threatened lawsuits.
Trump’s administration received a temporary reprieve after a judge reversed a restraining order against the firing of USAID employees.
(IANS)
