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FBI Director Kash Patel instructed employees to refrain from responding to an email—sent at the direction of tech billionaire Elon Musk—that requested federal workers to list their accomplishments from the previous week.
In a memo obtained by NewsNation, Patel stated that the bureau would handle future responses to inquiries from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Patel wrote in his message, per The Hill. “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.”
“When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses,” Patel continued. “For now, please pause any responses.”
Musk—who has been spearheading the White House’s efforts to downsize the federal government—announced Saturday afternoon on his social platform X that federal employees would soon receive an email “requesting to understand what they got done last week.”
“Failure to response will be taken as a resignation,” he added.
The message, reviewed by The Hill, instructed federal employees to “please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullet points of what you accomplished last week,” and copied to their managers. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Monday night, according to the message.
The State Department is taking the same approach as the FBI, The Hill added.
“The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” read a notice from Tibor Nagy, acting undersecretary for management at the State Department.
Meanwhile, Patel has been tapped by the White House to also take charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, an agency that also falls under the purview of the Justice Department.
The news comes one day after Patel was sworn in as FBI director, Fox News reported. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF general counsel, Pamela Hicks, Thursday.
“Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated,” Hicks posted on her LinkedIn page earlier in the day, confirming her dismissal.
Hicks had served as ATF’s chief counsel since 2021 under the Biden administration and previously held the role of deputy chief counsel during President Donald Trump’s first term. In total, she spent 23 years as an attorney within the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to a post on her LinkedIn profile.
“Serving as ATF Chief Counsel has been the highest honor of my career and working with the people at ATF and throughout the Department has been a pleasure,” Hicks continued in her post. “I thank my colleagues for their friendship and partnership over the years.”
“These people were targeting gun owners,” Bondi told Fox News Thursday regarding the ATF under the previous administration. “Not gonna happen under this administration.”
Late Sunday, Trump announced that Dan Bongino will be the next deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Trump posted the announcement on his Truth Social account:
“Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice! Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel. Dan has a Masters Degree in Psychology from C.U.N.Y., and an MBA from Penn State. He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York’s Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he is willing and prepared to give up in order to serve. Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!”
