Reversal of policy mandates staff to summarize weekly work for government assessment
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) informed employees on Monday that they must now respond to DOGE emails from the Trump administration requesting a summary of their work over the past week, reversing its earlier stance.
The administration issued a second round of emails on Friday evening, ramping up efforts by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team to evaluate government employee performance.
Policy shift on mandatory responses
HHS employees—including those at the FDA and CDC—were previously told they were not obligated to reply to DOGE emails and that failing to do so would have “no impact” on their employment.
However, in Monday’s directive, seen by Reuters, the department instructed employees to submit responses by midnight and to coordinate with supervisors to draft them.
Guidelines for compliance
Employees were advised to keep responses at a “high level of generality,” ensuring that descriptions of their work protected sensitive data and personally identifiable information.
HHS had previously cautioned staff that responses to DOGE emails could “be read by malign foreign actors.” However, the department issued two drafts of Monday’s directive, with the second version omitting that warning.
HHS was not immediately available for comment.
