The Pentagon has officially discontinued a rule requiring civilian employees to submit weekly emails detailing five tasks they completed, a program introduced earlier this year by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), linked to Elon Musk.
The initiative, supported by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was intended to improve accountability and reduce waste. The final email from civilian employees also requested a suggestion for one specific way to cut departmental waste.
Initially, all government employees received weekly emails with the subject line, "What did you do last week?" with Musk warning that failure to respond would be interpreted as a resignation. However, military personnel were exempt from this directive.
In February, the Pentagon first instructed workers to stop responding to these emails but later reinstated the requirement for civilian staff. Now, the Pentagon has decided to end this practice entirely.
This measure was part of a broader Trump administration plan to reduce civilian government workforce numbers. Secretary Hegseth has ordered a 5 to 8 percent reduction in civilian staff at the Pentagon, which employs over 900,000 civilians. This reduction could lead to more than 50,000 employees departing.
To manage these reductions, the Pentagon introduced a deferred resignation program allowing employees to leave later in the year. Officials are still determining the final number of departures and may retain personnel in critical roles.
