U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed all department civilian employees to respond to emails from the Office of Personnel Management asking them to list their achievements in the past week.

Concerns about classified material being sent in bulleted lists was part of the pushback from agency heads against the DOGE directive. They were also concerned about how the information would be

The Defense Department initially told employees to "pause any response" to OPM's request for a list of their work accomplishments.

Departments with sensitive or confidential tasks, such as the FBI or Pentagon, initially told employees to ignore the order from DOGE and OPM.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered all civilian Pentagon employees to respond to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) email demanding to know what they accomplished the week prior. Hegseth’s directive comes after Pentagon officials previously instructed Department of Defense employees not to respond to a Feb.

The Defense Department revised its guidance on requiring employees to provide feedback on what they accomplished during their work week. The Pentagon’s Office of Personnel and Readiness initially directed workers to ignore an accountability measure the Trump administration launched last month at the recommendation of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.