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Federal Workers Hit with Second Wave of Emails Demanding Job Details
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X/Twitter, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The Trump administration sent out a second round of emails on Friday evening demanding all federal employees summarize their work over the past week after the first effort fizzled amid a wave of confusing directives.
The emails from the government’s human resources arm, the US Office of Personnel Management, were sent to multiple agencies, Reuters has confirmed, and asked workers to list five things they accomplished during the week.
The move marks a renewed effort by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team to assess the performance of government employees as the administration looks to engage in mass layoffs to dramatically trim the federal footprint.
“The President has made it clear that this is mandatory for the executive branch,” Musk wrote on X. “Anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive.”
Musk attempted a similar tack last week, along with a threat that noncompliant workers could be fired, but he was stymied when some agencies such as the State and Justice departments told their employees to stick to the chain of command.
Ultimately, OPM informed agencies that responding to the emails was voluntary.
But Musk, with President Donald Trump’s backing, continued to press for the emails as a means they said to hold workers accountable. Both men suggested that some federal employees on the payroll don’t exist.
The second round of emails do not include any threat of retaliation for noncompliance but say workers are expected to send responses at the beginning of each work week.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Pentagon workers to comply, according to media reports, but the State Department again told their employees to hold off, according to a directive seen by Reuters.
The acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, also told workers in his office to comply, according to a message seen by Reuters.
Reuters was able to confirm the emails were also sent to employees at the Internal Revenue Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institutes for Health. Those agencies have all been targeted by DOGE for layoffs.
Musk’s team last week instructed agencies across the government to submit plans by March 13 for a “significant reduction” in staffing across the federal workforce.
Already, about 100,000 workers have taken buyouts or been fired after DOGE was dispatched by Trump to gut federal staffing and spending. There are about 2.3 million federal employees in all.
The layoffs have occurred in such haphazard fashion that some agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration have been forced to recall key personnel in order to ensure public safety.
Most recently, the Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech savvy civil servants that helped build the IRS’ free tax filing service and revamped websites across government.
In an email sent overnight to employees of the US General Services Administration (GSA) and seen by Reuters, the GSA’s Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd said the team — known as 18F — had been identified as “non critical.”
Formed at the tail end of the Barack Obama administration, the unit acted as an internal tech consultancy within government, ferreting out duplication and waste, streamlining bureaucratic processes, and making public-facing websites more user friendly.
Questions about Musk’s role and DOGE are at the heart of multiple lawsuits seeking to block them from accessing government systems and confidential data. The suits allege that Musk and DOGE are violating the Constitution by wielding the kind of vast power that only comes from agencies created through the US Congress or appointments made with confirmation by the US Senate.
Musk’s actions have also caused some tension and confusion among Trump’s White House aides, although Trump himself is said to be wholly on board with the effort.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk is not a Cabinet-level official and did not face US Senate confirmation. The Trump administration has been evasive about exactly what role he plays within DOGE.
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Beersheba Resident Arrested on Suspicion of Espionage for Iran
Doron Bokobza, who was indicted after Iran recruited him to collect intelligence Photo: i24/ Social media / 27A
i24 News – An indictment was filed against a resident of Beersheba, Doron Bokobza, who contacted Iranian intelligence and offered to sell them information including secrets to the nuclear research facility in Dimona.
In February, Bokobza was arrested on suspicion of committing security offenses, involving contact with Iranian police intelligence agents and carrying out tasks for them in exchange for money. He claimed to have access and knowledge of the nuclear facility.
According to the indictment filed against him, last December, Bokobza approached an Iranian recruiter via the Telegram app, writing: “I am Israeli, I want to cross over to you.” When asked by the recruiter why he was interested in doing so, the defendant replied that it was due to the government and his difficult financial situation.
Bokobza allegedly photographed military installations and transferred information to the Iranian handlers several days later.
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Captive IDF Soldier Nimrod Cohen Identified from Horn Video Hamas Released
Nimrod Cohen, an IDF soldier who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, by Gazan terrorists and has been held for more than 500 days. Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum
i24 News – The family of the Israeli soldier Nimrod Cohen, held captive in the Gaza Strip, said on Saturday that they had identified their son in the video published the day before by Hamas.
In this recording, Eitan and Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and other hostages whose faces have been blurred can be seen. The Cohen family says they recognized Nimrod, who appears wearing a t-shirt and bearing a characteristic tattoo.
In the video broadcast with the agreement of the Horn family, brothers Eitan and Iair are seen embracing. Iair Horn, freed on the 498th day of the war, declares: “They are making me leave my little brother here, to die,” while his brother Eitan, still in captivity, adds: “It is illogical to separate families in this way.”
“Get everyone out and don’t separate families, don’t destroy our lives,” Eitan said in the video. “Tell mom and dad to continue the protests and for this government to sign phase two to bring us all home.” He addressed the Prime Minister directly: “[Benjamin] Netanyahu, if you have a bit of heart, sign, sign today.”
Father Yehuda Cohen said during a demonstration of hostage families that his “son Nimrod is a soldier who was kidnapped from a burning tank. He is alive and he, like all the hostages, begs us from this hell to save them now. All of them, and all at once.”
“We are addressing President Trump – there are still 59 hostages in Gaza who are living a Holocaust,” he added. “Netanyahu is trying to sabotage your agreement, Mr. President. He is the one creating the current crisis in the negotiations. Don’t let him fail the agreement.”
About two weeks ago, Cohen revealed in an interview with Channel 12 that the family had received a message from Nimrod. “We got news from him last week, from two hostages who spent eight months with him in the tunnels,” the father explained. “I’m doing fine, don’t worry about me. I love you,” Nimrod conveyed to his parents through the former captives.
The post Captive IDF Soldier Nimrod Cohen Identified from Horn Video Hamas Released first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Right-Wing Camp Hails Order to Block Goods from Entering Gaza
Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks following the announcement of exit polls in Israel’s general election, at his party headquarters in Jerusalem November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Corinna Kern
i24 News – Israel’s right wing hailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision on Sunday to halt goods and supplies from being brought to the Gaza Strip, demanding that hostages continue being released.
“I welcome the decision to halt the humanitarian aid, if it is implemented,” said former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “The decision has finally been made – better late than never. This should be the policy until the last of the hostages is returned. Now is the time to open the gates of hell, to shut off the electricity and water, to return to war, and most importantly, not to settle for just half of the hostages, but to return to President Trump’s ultimatum all the hostages immediately or hell will break loose on Gaza.”
Ben Gvir referred to US President Donald Trump’s warning that “all hell” would break out if all the hostages are not returned, while saying that it was ultimately Israel’s decision.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another right-wing firebrand, said that “the decision we made tonight to completely halt the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas is destroyed or completely surrenders and all our hostages are returned is an important step in the right direction.”
He called for Israel to continue until “complete victory.”
Meanwhile, the far-right Order 9 movement, which opposed the entry of goods including humanitarian assistance into Gaza, said that its activists “reached the Kerem Shalom crossing area and it is indeed closed. We will stand guard that it will indeed remain so until the last of the kidnapped are returned”
“The transfer of aid that has strengthened the murderous terrorist organization Hamas for the past year and a half will stop until all the kidnapped are returned,” the movement said. “For many months, we have fought tooth and nail against the terrible failure to transfer aid to the enemy, which has now become clear that it will strengthen it for many months to come. We are now on the ground and will continue to stand guard well, and to ensure that this severe harm to the kidnapped will stop.”
The post Israel’s Right-Wing Camp Hails Order to Block Goods from Entering Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.