The Secretary of Defense has instructed the Department of Defense’s civilian workforce to comply with a productivity request from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk. The request asks employees to submit five accomplishments, despite initial guidance advising against a response.
On Sunday, the Secretary of Defense clarified the change in a video message.
“Our civilian team, who play a vital role in supporting national defense, are crucial to our security,” he said. “As we focus on strengthening the DOD’s primary mission, we recognize that we cannot succeed without the valuable contributions of our civilian staff.”
Musk, heading DOGE, shared the video and expressed his appreciation.
The Secretary signed a memorandum on Friday instructing all civilian employees to respond to an email by Monday, outlining five key accomplishments from the past week. The responses should be submitted within 48 hours and include their supervisors as recipients.
In the video, he explained that the submissions will be collected to meet a request from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which had initially sent a similar request, but the DOD had advised its workforce to disregard it.
After collaborating with OPM for clearer guidance, the DOD now requires all civilian employees to submit their list of achievements for the previous week.
