Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has endorsed billionaire entrepreneur and Trump adviser Elon Musk’s controversial demand that federal employees justify their work, instructing Department of Transportation (DOT) staff to comply with the directive.
The move comes as a growing number of federal agencies oppose Musk’s ultimatum, which requires employees to detail five accomplishments from the previous week or risk termination.
While some agencies, including the FBI and Pentagon, have advised employees to ignore the email sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Duffy argues that the request is a reasonable measure to ensure efficiency and transparency.
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In a statement Monday, Duffy emphasized that the DOT has no issue with employees detailing their work, framing the request as a common practice in the private sector. “If you can’t come up with five things that you did last week, maybe you shouldn’t be employed here,” Duffy said. “This is an easy task. It happens in the private sector all the time.”
Duffy also stressed that federal employees are public servants who work for the president and the American people, not for political parties, unions, or think tanks. “I’m going to fight and work to make sure I help [President Trump] accomplish his goals because I’m a public servant,” he added.
The Transportation Secretary cited his own accomplishments last week as an example, citing the termination of New York City’s congestion pricing plan, $10 million in savings by eliminating outdated landlines, and the advancement of a traffic control tower project in Burbank, California.
Secretary Duffy posted on X:
Mr. President, 5 things I did last week:
- Terminated NYC elitist, anti-worker congestion pricing.
- Launched an investigation into the $16 billion in taxpayer dollars wasted on a high-speed rail project that, after 17 years, has yet to lay a single mile of track.
- Saved $10 million a year by eliminating redundant and outdated landlines.
- Visited the Air Traffic Control Command Center in Virginia to see the critical tech upgrades we need to make our air traffic system the envy of the world.
- Toured Burbank, California traffic control tower and heard from air traffic controllers about how to improve conditions and retain and recruit more controllers.
Looking forward to another week of fighting for Americans @USDOT!
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Critics of Musk’s approach have raised concerns about the potential impact on safety, particularly within agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Duffy dismissed these concerns, noting that recent workforce reductions at the FAA targeted probationary employees who had been with the agency for less than a year.
“We cut 352 people out of 46,000—that’s 0.8% of the workforce,” Duffy said. “These weren’t the old-school, ingrained employees of the DOT. We kept all the critical air traffic controllers and hired more inspectors for pipelines and aircraft. For people to say that cutting 352 people out of 46,000 is a risk to safety—give me a break. That’s just playing politics.”
The backlash against Musk’s directive has escalated into a legal battle, with attorneys representing federal workers filing an updated lawsuit Monday in federal court in California.
The lawsuit, brought by unions, business veterans, and conservation groups, accuses Musk and the Trump administration of orchestrating “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”
The plaintiffs argue that no OPM rule, regulation, or policy has ever required federal workers to submit such reports, calling the move unprecedented and unlawful.
They are seeking to block any mass layoffs resulting from Musk’s directive, which they claim violates federal labor laws and due process protections.
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