The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has instructed its personnel to pause responses to an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requesting employees to justify their recent work, according to an official statement released on 23 February 2025.
The guidance, issued by Darin S. Selnick, Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, reads:
“DoD personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures. When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.’”
The email in question is part of a broader Trump administration directive, spearheaded by Elon Musk, requiring federal employees to list their weekly accomplishments.
Musk, who is overseeing the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, announced on social media that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”—a claim that has sparked legal concerns and backlash from federal workers and unions.
The DoD is not the only agency pushing back against the demand. Other national security bodies, including the FBI, CIA, and Department of Homeland Security, have also advised employees to withhold responses until further instructions are given. FBI Director Kash Patel issued a similar directive, telling employees that “the FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes.”
Union leaders have denounced the move, with Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, calling it “cruel and disrespectful” to career civil servants, particularly veterans serving in the federal workforce. Legal experts have warned that any attempt to force resignations through nonresponse would amount to wrongful termination.
Despite the controversy, Musk defended the measure, claiming on social media that “an email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable” and should take “less than five minutes to write.” However, confusion remains over the legality and enforcement of the directive, as well as its implications for federal employees’ job security.
As agencies await further clarification, the DoD’s directive to pause responses signals a potential conflict between national security leadership and the administration’s approach to federal workforce oversight.
Musk is a cancer.
He is actually correct in cutting government waste….there is a lot in the US and even more in the UK. If employees can’t justify their jobs in one or two sentences then why do these jobs exist?
I think you’re missing the point Matthew. Those of us working in the public sector justify our jobs everyday and through our rigorous appraisal process. Our jobs are regularly subject to performance reviews and endless pushes for “efficiency”. I would argue we are subject to far higher scrutiny than many in the private sector. This idea that the public sector is full of waste is simply not true in my extensive experience, a fallacy spread by the ignorant and misinformed. I will state i believe many organisation are excessively “top heavy” with far to much upper management bloat.
“I will state i believe many organisation are excessively “top heavy” with far to much upper management bloat.”
– Having done a few summers working at the MoD years ago, I can certainly remember it being that way. Can’t say how things are today, but one instance I always remember was working in a section where everyone who was not an admin assistant (i.e. me+secretary) went away to a 4* country club for four-days for a team building ‘experience’. I was so bored at work one morning that I actually looked up the cost of the country club and worked out that the total cost for everyone who went amounted to >£10k and well over 200 man (person) hours of work spent. When they came back I asked one of them how the trip had been and whether it was useful and they said ‘yea, it was alright.’
I’m not saying this because I wanted to go myself (I really didn’t) but that, at the age of 19, I was struck by the vast sums of money and time that were wasted, given that, if I remember correctly, the project I was working on was already over-budget and behind schedule. Again, I don’t know what it’s like there today.
Catch yourself on Joe, every private sector job is subject to annual performance reviews. The difference is if you are underperforming especially for more than 1 year you will be out on your ear.
HMRC, NHS, DWP, any many more departments are still largely paper based in 2025, its one of the primary reasons there is such an enormous backlog. Insurance and Banking automated these administration roles well over a decade now.
I think you’re quite right Joe. The RW hate anything that doesn’t directly make them richer, even glad to see the poor crushed underfoot.
The welfare budget has been hammered mercilessly over decades, leaving little room for fraud(as it should be), demonising those with no other option, damaging or driving to suicide many relient upon it, &much actually subsidises the wages of ill paid employees whose employers can’t be bothered to pay properly.
Decades ago friends working for the DWP were being asked to work evem harder after staff had already been cut & even if they managed to keep up with demands, they’d then be expected to help other ofices who could’nt keep up. Drove many to illness or resign.
The reality is that fraud at the top is far gtreater than that lazily leveled at the welfare. Corporate greed & cosseting the richest ensure that whenever times are hard or we have emergencies like today, raising even modestly taxes on those with the deepest pockets is barely ever seriously considered. Those struggling in the middle or below always carry the can. Whenevr has the HOC/Lords had any of their perks cut?
The last time as a public sector worker in the NHS I was asked to justify my role with my 5 priorities I just laughed and produced a 3 page spreadsheet of the 65 core functions I undertook with the evidence I was working 60 hours a week instead of the 37.5 I was paid and the fact to actually undertake all the functions effectively I needed 136 man hours a week.. yep lots of waste. I left my job and now work in private practice specialising in supporting NHS senior staff helping them to not fall apart as they balance working 10-12 hour days and weekends in demanding roles that destroy their mental health…
If all he wants is bullet points do you think he would accept a response along the lines of:-
Monday:- Performed work you aren’t cleared to know about.
Tuesday:- Performed work you aren’t cleared to know about.
…
Because that’s pretty much what he would get back from anyone at the Pentagon. I suspect his ego might just cause his head to explode reading several thousand of those.
I wonder what Elon’s security vetting report concluded, if he even had any.
Musk does have security clearance but wasn’t vetted by their security services. Musk was granted his access via an executive order issued on 20 January.
He is one of a number of people granted “temporary” TS/SCI clearance.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/memorandum-to-resolve-the-backlog-of-security-clearances-for-executive-office-of-the-president-personnel/
It has since come to light that this might not be true, he may not have clearance at all, so take it with a pinch of salt.
And who is the arbiter of whether these people keep their jobs? It should NOT be Musk, nor anyone working under him.
What about any staff on annual leave, or sick? Or those who just don’t have social media and therefore unaware of Musk’s threat that failure to respond will be taken as resignation?
Musk is completely nuts.
Unfortunately given the sheer volume of responses to this 5 point report, it’s near certain that Elon plans to put all of these through an AI and let it choose who can fired for not doing enough…
That sounds about right.
Well, I hope the staff at the Nuclear Energy Dept he sacked all resist being rehired. I’d refuse without a substantial pay rise added on.
This is like a surgeon trying to do open heart surgery with the chainsaw that lunatic was waving around at CPAC. If he really wanted to cut waste, cancel all his massively bloated contracts propping up Space X.
His applying a sledgehammer approach and that will break things resulting in damage to the US. Hopefully that damage won’t spill over to the UK, but I suspect it will.
Ultimately it’s a cash grab, his already rewarded a solo company deal for air traffic control to space-x and attempted to copy all the banking details before the courts stopped him.
US voters voted in trump and it wasn’t like he was trying to hide the bank raid he had planned, so their own fault if it hits them.
“Ultimately it’s a cash grab, his already rewarded a solo company deal for air traffic control to space-x”
Given this and the crashes they’ve already had in the US, I certainly won’t be flying to the US anytime soon.
that could apply to many outside of government employ too. US rapidly becoming a roque state and deserves treating as such. Article 5 would be ignored by Trump and Musk on the grounds of cost.
Well, going by the latest about Ukraine that’s not necessarily true. They’d probably just ask for 500bn in cash from future income….
It’s like you see someone being mugged and beaten shouting for help. You walk over and demand half the victim’s money and that the mugger gets to keep everything he’s taken so far… then maybe you’ll make sure the mugger doesn’t take any more…..
Not just half of the victims money but also half of their future income for the rest of time with first refusal on any purchases they make guaranteeing its at rates that suit you. The mineral deal is day light robery.
hopefully he will accidentally cut the FAA personnel who approve his ludicrous Starship to fly
There is NO evidence of that waste. It is a fanciful notion only. A lot depends on what is defined as ‘waste’. What departments do is a direct result of legislators wishes and they and only they can define what is considered waste. Bystanders may well object to something that in their eyes is waste but they invariably lack the understanding of what is or has gone one. Yes, the excess costs of developmental projects can be seen as ‘waste’ but it misses the point entirely. It is not possible to define in advance what a development may or may not entail. In some respects yes we pay a lot for things that may be overengineered but that is not necessarily a waste. Fine look at what you think is waste but to justify your comment you need to actually define what you are talking about in the context of the circumstances. So a bald one line social media comment is woefully insufficient. In the US case of DOGE it is merely an excuse to cut or scrap things that the Trump/Musk partnership do not like, withoiut regard to why things were done in the first place. And ultimately it is legislators who define what should or should not be done and only them.
Wow the US government is really dysfunctional at present.
Don’t be crazy man, Musk and Big Balls are killing it, they saved the US $55 billion already according to Daniel Morgan 😀
Unfortunately Big Balls didn’t learn so good as he never went to college, he keeps counting closed programs that already ended and spent all their money and triple counting others. It’s honestly the most farcical thing I have ever seen. The scariest thing is Trump’s approval ratings are still in the 40’s. Most American’s would vote for Trump again tomorrow if given the choice.
That’s unfortunately why the Atlantic alliance is ending, too easy to blame one man.
Talk about incoherent gibberish, but that is what Jim is noted for. I think he needs to take a course in remedial English too. I can understand his panic as to the ending of the Atlantic alliance – parasite, bankrupt, third-rate power Britian would then have to defend itself and would no longer be able to rely on American treasure and blood to defend it. Biggest foreign policy mistake in US history was when racist Democrat Woodrow Wilson got the US involved in WW1 – a war started by European incompetence and stupidity that served no purpose. It started a century long involvement in European affairs that the US didn’t need. There aren’t many Americans who will miss defending Europe. Wave to us as we sail off into the sunset. It’s precisely because of the Jims of the world that the Alliance should be ended.
Funny, I thought it was the Germans launching unrestricted U-Boat attacks against the US sinking ten cargo ships in two months that dragged them into WW1.
Yup, that’s what real historians reckon… but Daniel is probably one of those flat-earther types that believes history is a narrative constructed by liberals to subvert the USA…
Also, Germany was prodding Mexico to join them against the United States.
Daniel if your so anti British and anti Atlanticism then why do you spend so much time on a UK defence blog.
That’s MAGA logic right there.
You will be hunting for minerals next while banning EV’s.
Jim – I doubt that ‘Daniel Morgan’ is even American, I suspect that he is most likely a Russian Bot/Troll.
The only incoherent gibberish is what spews from your mouth that of your fellow ignorant, uneducated MAGA supporters. The only bankrupt parasite freeloader is the Russian agent you elected. It’s remedial geography, history and economics lessons you need, you’ll probably have to take them through Russian or Mandarin as your country cedes power to Russia and China.
I would repeat the 60-70 billion dollars the uk spent, 10,000 casualties, 900 deaths, 150,000 uk personnel deployed to Afghanistan and 140,000 Uk personnel deployed to Iraq for nothing more than to support the US in a war that had nothing to do with us other than support an ally. But you don’t care about that.
They are going to have to pay us back for all that, apparently that’s how things work now 😀
Please explain OUR blood and treasure expended in the sand box in support of the US triggering A5?
If you hate Britain that much, calling us a parasite, then why not just fuck off?
Don’t read this site, don’t post, just stick to your echo chamber of right-wing, low-IQ Trumptards!
Don’t worry, we’ll have fun watching you get your ass handed to you by the Chinese.
Hmm. That “Parasite” was good enough when we supported your wars in sandy places despite being deeply unpopular domestically. Poor Daniel doesn’t understand that projecting power has helped the U.S maintain its world dominance which is over. Its over Daniel because the orange manchild has just told his friends and allies who’s troops died fighting pointless wars to “piss off” We have trust issues with you now little Daniel and it pains me to say it, but when the U.S is attacked again-see 911 and Trump starts against China your “Parasites” won’t be springing into action because we don’t trust you.
Hope you got that into that Infowars inspired brain of yours, perhaps a crayon and some paper might also help!
“Sail off into the sunset”, apt choice of words as the US moves confidently towards the sunset of their global influence and good standing.
Say what you want about free-loading or otherwise (a consequence of US policy that has reaped far greater benefit than cost, rather than abuse of good will); but cutting on allies like this, cutting aid completely (inefficient or otherwise), and these other actions that Trump is taking will drive all countries to look to other relationships that they can better control- and that means a loss globally for the US.
Yes, we’ve come to expect empires – like our own – to slowly decay over decades and centuries, but the Americans seem determined to get it over with awfully quickly… Maybe we need to apply another model, like the fall of the USSR.
What American blood for British Interests? If the only example you have is WW2, then try harder. We didn’t actually need you in WW2 in Europe, just needed you to buy arms, which you did very nicely in, despite piss poor tanks like the Sherman. The reality is Britain was winning the long war against Germany and there was no need to actually invade Europe, other than a sense of duty, we could have simply allowed the Red army to roll right over Germany and then stepped in at the last minute, with our Canadian snd Commonwealth friends, and just took France, Belgium and Holland a year later in 1945, you delude yourselves. The parasite is the US who stole British trade and routes for payment, just like what the US is doing now in Ukraine to steal its rare minerals, a nation with no principles, but you suddenly cared about principles when the trade towers were destroyed, enacting article 5 then for your purposes, we then lost lots of blood helping you in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well we are happy to wave you goodbye, we wish good fortune in the wars to come, you’ll need us at some point again, hope our principles will have dropped also when the time comes.
We don’t have an ocean between us but I can tell you that most Canadians are giving you the one-finger salute in lieu (oh wait you probably don’t undertsand the word “lieu” so “instead”) of waving. Take off eh!
Daniel.
I always try to give the benefit of the doubt, including to you, and I value the UK US relationship, and Americans.
But that comment….after 9/11, the effort my country put into Iraq and Afghanistan, with my countrymen killed in essentially a US war.
As your Trump says, you’re out of line.
Guess Musk was not content with trying to wreck the USA’s efforts to modernise its nuclear weapons by firing loads of people from the National Nuclear Security Administration (which resulted in a panicked u-turn), he’s now targeting conventional war-fighting ability too…
He simply doesn’t understand what he is doing.
This isn’t a tech bro situation where you fire periodically and then hire again….
Some of those people will be irreplaceable skilled and knowledgable.
There are undoubtedly ares where huge savings could be made but nuclear weapons safety probably isn’t one of them.
You are right. Even industry complains when it can’t get hold of new recruits already trained by others, blaming education, blaming the government for a lack of instantly available recruits and never asking if their own hiring and firing policy is to blame. When you apply that mentality to an entire country and to public service, it can take decades to recover.
Road safety isn’t either, yet they just fired a load of people from that agency too. The conspiracy minded might think it’s because his cars are not getting good crash test results?…
Musk and Big Balls have got it, what could possibly go wrong. You’re just listening to the legacy media sharing fake news. Elon is a genius, he don’t need anyone else to worry about nuclear safety. 😀
My heart goes out to about half the people in America, I honestly can’t imagine what it must be like having to see this every day and knowing that half the country still fully supports this. Bojo and the lettuce where bad but not a patch on this and atleast we know no one voted for the Lettuce.
I can’t wait until Big Balls cuts everyone’s social security checks.
Yes, it’s vital to remember there are tens of millions of decent people in America who didn’t vote for this, and tens of millions more who did vote for it because they were victims of disinformation, and fed up with being at the bottom end of a system that shits on them. Trump and MAGA are no more America, even if they do currently call the shots, than any one political party is Britain.
👍
The problem with posts like this, Matt — which are 100% true — nevertheless remind me of the posts saying “remember not all Muslims are terrorists”. If you’ve reached the point where you even have to write them, something has already gone very wrong.
Yes, but I would argue that problem is with us and our perception of things, rather than with reality. The overwhelming majority of Americans didn’t vote for Trump, even though he and his faction are in power and the ones making the news. Likewise, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists, but it’s the wrong’uns who make the headlines. But yes, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.
The US Congress needs to establish a full Civil Service structure into US Government quickly. Do away with most political appointees.
That works so well for the UK…..with ever growing numbers…..and ever reducing outputs…..
Civil Servants are hired, and let go, at the request of the government, Civil servants draft, recommend, and execute policy. Whether or not recommended policies are undertaken is a political decision, not a civil service call.
That is a lovely idea but implementation is a game the civil service play for keeps.
If they don’t want something to happen it won’t.
What are you talking about, the number of civil servants has been on an almost continuous downward trend since the end of WW2 only recently rising again during Covid. Despite the doubling of the population its fallen from 1.2m during 1944 to 450,000 in 1979, peaked at 550k again in 2020 due to the number taken on to perform vaccinations, before falling back to 500,000 today.
I would be unbelievable in the UK, if the head of MI6, MI5, where political appointees?
Most nations have learnt that’s not a safe move
Trump is rearranging things so he(or whoever replaces him when he snuffs it) can never be booted out of power. Straight ourt of dictators playbook.
Earth to Meirion X. The US established a federal civil service through the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883.
You better tell the Donald that 😀
So why staff the top positions in the CIA and FBI with shock jocks, not career professionals?
Is the US Army next to get shock jocks, running it?
What Congress needs to do is to use its existing powers. The President cannot unilaterally shut agencies that Congress has approved funding for.
A working democracy requires separation of powers, and these being adhered to. Unfortunately Trump’s stacking of the Supreme Court has already ensured he is immune from prosecution for breaking the law when fulfilling his duties. The concept the head of state is not above the law was established in Magna Carta, so the USA is currently 1,000 years behind us in its concept of governance…
Careful, or Elliott will come in and say you can’t be mean about his constitution…
Musk and Trump are dismantling the USA from the inside, Putins laughing, he has played the long game and won.
DING DING DING we have a winner folks.
And what’s worse the voting majority are complicit.
They know that both will be in prison, Musk an absolute certainty, if democracy as we know it continues in the US. So they will desperately create alternative governance from within that suits their needs. What form that will take is not yet certain but it will fall at one end an extended stay for Trump as President who increasingly is just a figurehead for the real power behind the scene be it Musk or others. Or MAGA will be so entrenched and accepted that the veneer of democracy will be allowed to operate while a new President be it a Trump family member, or MAGA acolyte will be ‘elected’ to continue the road to dictatorship. The US has at best 2 years to save itself in the mid terms if enough legal and other barriers can obstruct the developing coup long enough. Unless the Republicans, who are in many cases finding it hot presently from their voters at grass roots, find a pair then I fear it might already be too late. The other factor is assignation. Musk is becoming psychotic in his fear of it, even Fox anchors are questioning its less than subtle presence and he has even used the dangers to his life as excuses for not seeing at least two of his recent children.
I mean the crassness of asking military and secret service personnel to explain what they did the previous week is beyond belief but this is the madness we are entering, which at this rate would make Caligula blush. But that’s what you get from electing a power crazed, autocratic narcissist backed by a psychopath. One demigod is bad enough but two supported by yes men…..
I’m holding out hope for a counter-coup. Large swathes of US citizens are already outraged
Trump makes Caligula look quite reasonable…
His horse talked more sense than JD Vance, that’s for sure!
Spot on BoF. Though given Donalds IQ there must be others behind the scenes who are the reall evil idiots.
The Blob is not going quietly into that long goodnight: but Elon will sack the lot of them. Good riddance. Next stop the UK Blob.
I assumed you were talking about Trump there. 😂 Easy mistake to make.
Thank you for your contribution Terence or do I call you BigBalls I do note however ‘Elon’ and the team of ‘cracked up high school drop out ‘investigators’ has not been too efficient in seeking out inefficiencies themselves have they. It took a real forensic accountant or indeed almost any competent individual who can count to ten an hour from first receiving the multiple delayed initial report (well they do work on ‘Elon’ time after all), to work out it was so full of incompetent maths, ill conceived assumptions and laughable schoolboy errors that $18 billion of claimed irregularities were immediately reduced to $2billion outstanding that needed further investigation. Meanwhile Tesla and Space X continue to milk the American finances unchallenged. Especially those ‘armoured’ cybertrucks they seem to be buying for the forces (as no one else will) which are so poorly performing and damn dangerous due to their construction they are banned from Britain.
Hands off my blob..
The US has more than 3 million civil service employees. Many of them work remotely and are unaccountable to anyone.
The DoD, DHS, DOJ and exempt from most DOGE stuff, but the rest have to shrink.
The DOJ are full of resignations and being replaced by yes men and women. Its head is now so inexperienced and under the thumb he sent a fundamentally illegal letter to a Democrat Congressmen asking for an explanation of language he used. Such a request is illegal under the Constitution but when Trump, Musk and co tell you to do it and you are their poodle I guess you do it.
So now you are an expert on the US Constitution. You have no idea what you are talking about The First Amendment does not sanction a call for violent action – Brandenburg v Ohio. The letter was totally constitutional and was issued by the responsible person. You’re an idiot.
Well you’re definitely no expert on anything, and a shining example of how America will never be great as long as insecure, self absorbed, thin skinned, racist and narcissistic people like you are around.
Do you mind telling us all as well, when was it that America was actually great? This century, ? the last one ?, the one before? Please let us know. Or is it becoming beholden to the Kremlin that makes you great?
Thanks for pointing out Brandenburg v Ohio and I also can’t see any illegality. Nor would I see any illegality in the Congressman politely replying “no comment” to the DOJ. However, previous Supreme Court verdicts can be overturned by the Supreme Court (eg. Roe v Wade) especially if a President manages to stuff the Court with like minded jurists. Are you not at least a little worried than bedrock judgements are likely to be overturned during the next decade with nothing like the two thirds votes that would be required to change the constitution itself? Do the US people even know where that will take them?
“The First Amendment does not sanction a call for violent action”
So Trump calling for people to be hung & overturning the previous election result was fine?
President Musk is causing chaos over there. Last week he sacked the 300 Nuclear missile technicians, a day later it was every federal cyber security employee at the Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Science Foundation. I understand Nurses who work at the VA have had those emails over the weekend too.
I can only assume Musk thinks he is going to carry out Milton Friedman’s wish that the only Federal Civil Service Agencies that the government have is the Department of Defense, Judiciary and the Police.
Well it’s interesting that he started with the Departments that were investigating his Ponzi schemes… sorry companies. If it weren’t so serious it would be hilarious that until recently Tesla was valued equal to every other major car company in the World combined. Not bad for a company that has only rarely made any money and relies totally on carbon credits to stay alive, has declining sales and which one recent study had the most dangerous and accident prone vehicles on American roads, which just might have encouraged Musk into financing Trumps Presidency and getting the rewards he expected from it.
Can we hire them, please? (Apart from Homer Simpson, of course.)
Finally, the US has joined the ranks of third world countries-
I fear it’ll end up with ‘failed state’ status by the time Trump is removed from office..
The Mexican boarder just moved north to the Great Lakes, everything about the USA from its infrastructure to its life expectancy, deprivation to its health care and murder rates looks like any other country in Latin America.
The only stand out is on income, the USA continues to have an apparent higher income than most developed countries although so did Argentina until the 70’s.
It’s very sad that the USA has gone from being an essentially Northern European nation based on the laws and traditions of Britain and the Magna Carta to a Latin America style strong man Republic where laws are seen as irrelevant.
This is exactly what happened to Argentina which also had a heavy British influence that diminished over time and was replaced by Peronist regimes which looks almost identical to MAGA.
America was already great no one needed to make it great again.
A lot of British no-nothings commenting on something about which they know nothing. For the last five years hundreds of thousands, of US civil servants have been working from home, allegedly. Anecdotal evidence is that many of them are holding down separate employment and not performing their duties. Many are allegedly not even reading their emails or checking in at the office. The Musk email was designed to see if there were people like that.
I know what you mean. We get a lot of American no-nothings doing the same.
Is that why you want $500 billion in minerals from Ukraine and to annex Canada, Greenland and Panama. Are civil servants working from home the reason you’re now supporting authoritarian governments while ditching your allies and meeting German Nazis in Munich?
Is this what you were hoping for when you voted for the Donald?
The irony of an American no nothing commenting on a UK defence forum. Crayons really are beyond your competence.
Russians really love their MAGA’s to be as thick as mince.
Am I missing the irony or something else in the constant mispelling of know-nothing?
Come on, it’s a bit much to expect decent spelling from a MAGA Trumptard.
I bet Daniel Morgan can’t even tie his own shoes; probably still has velcro!
No nothing is off the table it’s a great big NO to NOTHING…give us SOMETHING now.
It’s not the management of waste it’s the incompetence and brutal way he’s doing it.. essentially the most talented people are the ones who will simply go fuck you to this sort of treatment.. it’s the time serving wasters that will hang on in and tick the boxes to justify their existence.. simply put he will end up with a civil service that’s not fit for purpose.. which is actually more damaging that a wasteful one. Because it’s easier to trim fat with care than it is to rebuild that which has been shatter without thought.
British people? On a site about British defence?
Heaven forbid!
And it’s KNOW-nothing, not No-nothing.
Trumptards aren’t known for their education, though.
Ah yes, ‘anecdotal evidence’. The bedrock of the Enlightenment and good governance…
Musk knows exactly what he is doing. Don’t be fooled into thinking he doesn’t. The whole plan is to tear everything down.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
As in , “Drill baby, drill!”
Well Germany had now awoken and basically told the US goodbye and essentially come out and said it thinks NATO is finished. It a very sad world, I did not think western hegemony would end this month… but it has.
Yes very sad, interestingly the CDU says it wants to make a contribution to UK nuclear weapons and have Britain and France provide a nuclear umbrella for Europe.
Could see UK tactical nuclear weapons possibly with dual or tri key sharing, additional dreadnaught class, Anglo French SLBM program and nuclear armed cruise missiles stationed in German as part of uk Germany cruise missile program.
The Germans have deep pockets and massive manufacturing capacity.
I can see a new NATO-style Alliance, comprising of NATO’s nations being formed with the NATO structure. This would give Europe greater security and would still allow for USA-Europe mutual support to be retained… Assuming the USA survives Trump’s tenure in power and returns to sanity.
Yes, I agree, hopefully just a hardened core of ENATO with weak links like Hungary, Turkey, Slovakia and the USA removed. The weak link countries could potentially stay in NATO on a political basis while the core countries could move forward with a more fully integrated command structure. The UK would be the logical country to provide the framework and it may be an expansion of the JEF. The new alliance should very much have the ability to remove members though. No free riders as NATO and the EU permits.
Jonathan, the relationship will never be the same again. If DJT can be elected twice despite all the evidence, it can happen again. You can not afford a 3rd instance. Europe needs to be Europe only that includes Russia and Ukraine. Then decide the demographics since Europe will be Muslim majority by end of the century according to demographic experts. US became Maga since white people dropped from 80% down to 59%.
Trump, Musk and entourage are scum of the earth. At best they are just robbers/gangsters. At worst they are KGB agents since 1987, and have infiltrated the USA, rather than Putin conquering USA/NATO with hard power. America’s reputation has now been permanently damaged regardless. However – damn them – they are partly right about some things, and I can only conclude that this is how they have been able to “gasslight” the Americans and the world and gain power. Same phenomena as in the 1930s with a certain German corporal rising to power.
Having experienced both private and public sector (each has it’s own faults and merits) I see no harm in challenging the public sector to justify it’s reason for existence. The private sector tends to start with a big idea such as save 20% of your budget and then starts immediate restructuring and ejecting people rapidly to meet that target.
The public sector when faced with a similar target introduces a hiring freeze and an CEO sign off requirement for buying paperclips.
The benefits of the first model is that you get a relatively rapid transition to a new working model where there is an understanding and acceptance that you are just not going to be doing some of the things you used to do before.
My experience of the public sector is of a culture where financial control is the primary concern and that the hard lock of resources inhibits any sort of proactive organisational change or efficiency measure. Absurdities arrive where things which have been promised to be closed down to save money lack the actual resources to be able to close them. The hand to mouth day to day operations completely inhibit any sort of horizon scanning where management have the time or resources to make better choices or even think long and hard about whether or not what they’re doing has any actual value or could be done better in a different way.
Sat in my big comfy chair, got a few tins chillin, loving all the comments so far. Roll on happy hour.
I have lasted a day without saying it, but…. No! Not the comfy chair! Ah, I feel a lot better now.
Just say you are trying to get the Cyber truck to work.
If I worked for I R S, I might reply :
– checked on the tax account of Elon Musk.
-respond to a strange email wanting Musk tax acct number.
– respond to a weird email wanting Musk social security nbr.
– respond to a funny email requesting Musk home address.
Jonathan, the relationship will never be the same again. If DJT can be elected twice despite all the evidence, it can happen again. You can not afford a 3rd instance. Europe needs to be Europe only that includes Russia and Ukraine. Then decide the demographics since Europe will be Muslim majority by end of the century according to demographic experts. US became Maga since white people dropped from 80% down to 59%.
A bit of an essay as ever, but thought I would add a little human perspective and some genuine numbers of the impact at a tactical level… I have been on exchange with the US for the last 18 months. I manage a team of 25 Mil and 60 Civ personnel. All are employed in Tier 1 logistics (CS/CSS), directly assisting front line units with daily face to face interaction. Since the change of administration:
4x Civ have opted for the differed resignation programme. We will find out in the next 48 hrs whether they have been expected. We have been informed however that anyone who is accepted cannot be replaced/re-hired. The position and funding go based on the decision of the incumbent rather than the needs of the organization.
3x Military have submitted notice. 2x because they are Queer and do not feel safe to continue serving. 1x leaving the country as they do not agree with the values of the administration; intent to move to NZ and re-nationalize in order to join the Kiwi armed forces.
7x Civ have been fired as they were probational staff deemed non-operationally essential. All were employed in either warehousing or physical financial audits and were within their first year of government employment. Again, these positions and funding are gone/going under current plans.
5x further military are beyond their ‘20 year’ retirement/GI bill point and have made it clear that they intend to transition from service during the next 12-18 months as an (albeit convenient) consequence. There are many nuances to when and why for each individual.
We have planned to scale back our output in accordance with operational resilience planning and are already reduced to our fourth of fifth tiered steps. Current plans are that we will be operating with the lowest acceptable level of output within 4/5 months, probably below that threshold.
My summary would be that people are really scared. Most of my senior team have asked me for assistance with financial advice, budgeting and for references so they can begin looking for other jobs outside of the public sector. No one is sure whether to believe the corporate OPM emails or what is said on X. The executive direction is changing faster than they can respond with life-changing decisions. Morale is a huge issue, the pressure on the Command team is also really significant as they don’t know which bits to believe (it was likened by one US colleague to that scene in Valkyrie, where the telephone operators don’t know which messages to pass on and will be first against the wall if they pick the wrong ones).
There are massive human consequences to making sweeping changes in this way. Following these initial cuts pretty much every team in our Command – indeed in every Command – will probably need to restructure. Further positions will need to be retired to generate financial and workforce capacity to have functioning supervision hierarchy. I have no doubt people will lose their homes, their livelihoods and will remain unemployed as the private sector will not be able to absorb the sheer numbers. The impact will be disproportionally felt by those on lower incomes.
I’m not really trying to make comment or criticism either way other than to remind us all that there are good people, who are doing a meaningful, important job to a credible level, who will suffer as a consequence of these changes – even if we believe they are for the greater good. Anyone can make savings if you only look at one half of the balance book… I could stop paying my mortgage to ‘save’ myself lots of money, but that action has consequences. So do these.