The confusion and anxiety of the agency manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation, was a common response to the email that is part of billionaire Elon Musk’s push to slash the size of the government on behalf of President Donald Trump, according to lawmakers and employees.

A defiant threat by Elon Musk warning that federal employees will be given "a second chance" to respond to his email asking them to justify their jobs or risk termination is likely to spark another round of confusion across the U.

The request for employees to outline their job accomplishments has been met with pushback from departments and agencies.

Federal workers spent Monday trying to figure out how – or even whether – to respond to Elon Musk’s weekend email blast telling them to explain their work last week or risk losing their job.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency scouring government agencies for suspected waste, delivered a warning Monday to workers on his platform X. “Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave,” Musk wrote.

Elon Musk instructed federal workers to email a list of five tasks completed last week or resign. Here are five things to know about the ultimatum.

Billionaire and Republican President Donald Trump's ally Elon Musk had ordered for U.S. government workers to justify their jobs. Musk's order opened divisions in the Trump administration. Some agencies had told workers to respond to the billionaire by a Monday night deadline and others told workers to ignore him.

The Trump administration is backing off Elon Musk’s weekend mandate that federal employees submit five things they accomplished in the last week or face dismissal ahead of a Monday evening deadline. An administration official,