Exclusive-US health agency now says employees must respond to DOGE email

By Patrick Wingrove and Dan Levine

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told employees on Monday that they were required to respond to an email from the Trump administration demanding they summarize their work over the past week, reversing its earlier position.

The administration sent out a second round of emails on Friday evening in a renewed push by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team to assess the performance of government employees and overhaul bureaucracy.

The email asked them to share five bullet points on their accomplishments last week.

Employees at HHS, which includes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had previously been told that they did not have to respond to DOGE's emails and there would be "no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond."

Multiple other U.S. agencies had also told employees not to respond immediately to DOGE's demand, including the FBI and State Department.

In Monday's email, seen by Reuters, HHS told employees to respond to DOGE's email by midnight without revealing sensitive information, including the names of drugs and devices they are working on.

HHS previously warned employees that responses to DOGE's request may "be read by malign foreign actors." The department sent two versions of its email on Monday, the second of which removed that reference.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents HHS workers, told members in an email seen by Reuters that they must comply with the agency's choice to proceed with the "ill-advised exercise". The union was not immediately available for comment.

Employees were told in HHS's email to follow supervisor guidance on how to reply and respond in a way that would not identify grants, grantees, contracts or contractors, nor information that would identify the precise nature of scientific experiments, research or reviews.

"I feel I will spend the whole day writing these five bullets in a way that does not contain sensitive information while also providing information that my job is important. I don't know if this can be called efficiency," said an FDA source who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Employees on leave, out of office due to work schedules, or who have signed a deferred resignation agreement are not required to respond, according to the email.

HHS was not available to comment.