Summary
Key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon, are refusing to comply with Elon Musk’s demand that federal employees report their weekly accomplishments to him or risk termination.
The directive, backed by Trump, has sparked chaos, legal concerns, and union threats of lawsuits. Some agencies issued conflicting guidance, while lawmakers from both parties questioned the move’s legality.
Musk falsely claims widespread fraud in government payrolls and has provided no evidence.
Unions demand the request’s withdrawal and an apology.
Redundancy and resiliency is what you want in government (actually most systems involving humans)—not efficiency.
We need robust service that can continue to provide service even when parts of it fail. That’s worth paying for.
Even with something like an F1 car where engineers are keenly aware of efficiency, efficiency isn’t holy above all else. If it was, you wouldn’t care about the pilot’s safely, engines blowing themselves up when slightly out of spec, or the ability to race in all the races of the season—all you’d care about is speed.