NASA will shutter three departments, according to an email reviewed by BI.
The email said that the closures are part of a larger reduction in force.
Twenty-three employees were fired on Monday, an agency spokesperson told BI.
NASA has officially started its restructuring effort.
The agency will close three departments as part of the Trump administration's broader goal to reduce the federal workforce, according to an email reviewed by Business Insider.
NASA employees received the email on Monday from the agency's acting administrator, Janet Petro. The three departments affected are the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility branch of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. An agency spokesperson told BI that 23 individuals were fired.
"NASA's Office of the Chief Scientist is tasked with ensuring that all the Agency's scientific endeavors align with the Administration's goals. Eliminating the office sends a chilling message that NASA's scientists aren't part of the nation's goals," a current NASA employee told BI in a written response.
Petro said the changes put the agency in compliance with President Donald Trump's executive order to implement the White House DOGE office's workplace restructuring.
She wrote that Monday marked the beginning of NASA's reduction in force effort.
"While this will mean making difficult adjustments, we're viewing this as an opportunity to reshape our workforce, ensuring we are doing what is statutorily required of us, while also providing American citizens with an efficient and effective agency," Petro wrote in the email.
It's not clear if all employees in the departments were terminated, or if some might be moved to different areas within NASA.
"A small number of individuals received notification Monday they are a part of NASA's RIF. If they're eligible, those employees may opt to participate in the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA, or complete the RIF process," the NASA spokesperson told BI in a statement.
Representatives for DOGE and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
The latest restructuring plans from NASA follow weeks of changes to the federal workforce. The Trump administration has fired thousands of workers across a range of federal agencies and has cut billions of dollars in federal spending programs. The Office of Personnel Management also instructed all federal agencies to develop reorganization plans by March 13.
A growing number of agencies are telling their workers that they are not required to respond to the email sent from the Office of Personnel Management over the weekend asking for a list of accomplishments from the past week.
According to emails reviewed by Business Insider, some of the agencies told employees that they would respond to OPM on their behalf. Others said a response is voluntary, and failure to respond will not result in any penalties.
In a post on X on Saturday, Musk said that "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," but the initial email didn't make the same claim. This comes after a tumultuous past few weeks for federal workers; a number of agencies terminated thousands of employees last week following directions from President Donald Trump and Musk's DOGE to slash government waste.
These are the federal agencies BI has verified that have so far told their workers that they do not need to respond to OPM's email ahead of the 11:59 p.m. Eastern time deadline on Monday night.
Department of Defense
The Department of Defense posted on X on Sunday that its employees should "pause any response" to the OPM's email.
"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," the statement said.
Social Security Administration
On Sunday, the Social Security Administration sent an email to its employees telling them that the OPM email is "a legitimate assignment" and those who received it were required to respond.
However, the agency followed up on Monday afternoon telling employees that any response is "voluntary."
"Non-responses are not considered a resignation," the email said.
NASA
NASA emailed its employees on Monday afternoon saying, "You are not required to respond, and there is no impact on your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond."
The agency said it would respond on employees' behalf and that "employees should continue to feel empowered to report their activities and accomplishments" to their supervisors.
Department of Justice
Jolene Ann Lauria, acting assistant attorney general for administration at the DOJ, emailed employees on Monday: "Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of the Department's work, DOJ employees do not need to respond to the email from OPM."
Bloomberg Law reported that this was a reversal of Lauria's earlier guidance that instructed employees to respond to the email.
Department of Agriculture
The USDA told employees on Monday afternoon that responding to the email is "voluntary," and that "there is no penalty for not responding to the request."
The USDA guidance said that those who do choose to respond should refrain from submitting any sensitive or confidential information.
State Department
The State Department told employees that it would respond on behalf of the agency.
"No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command," the department said.
Department of Energy
The Department of Energy emailed its employees on Sunday night, instructing them to "pause" any responses to the OPM email.
"The Department of Energy is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures," the department said. "When and if required, the Department will provide a coordinated response to the OPM email."
Department of Health and Human Services
The Department of Health and Human Services told employees that based on discussions with OPM officials, they did not need to respond to the initial email.
"OPM has now rescinded that mandatory requirement," HHS said in an email. "There is no HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond."
The email said that those who do respond should do so "at a high level of generality" and protect sensitive information. They should "assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly."
Are you a federal worker? Got a tip? Contact these reporters securely on Signal at the usernames asheffey.97 or alicetecotzky.05, or email them at [email protected] or [email protected].
President Donald Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk have been hitting some legal obstacles regarding their government efficiency efforts.
Brandon Bell/Pool via AP
Federal workers were emailed Saturday with a request to list productivity details from their week.
Elon Musk said that those who don't reply by 11:59 p.m. on Monday will have forfeited their role.
Many federal employees told BI they feel frustrated by the request. Some have already been told not to respond.
Several federal workers across agencies told Business Insider they're frustrated and scared for their jobs after Elon Musk said they must email their work accomplishments or risk losing their jobs.
Some say they're skeptical of the ramifications — others have been told not to respond.
The productivity-tracking email, sent Saturday afternoon from an HR account in the Office of Personnel Management, followed President Donald Trump's request that Musk "get more aggressive." It's the latest of DOGE's sweeping initiatives that have resulted in mass firings, funding pauses, and work stoppages in departments and agencies across the federal government.
Musk, the face of the White House DOGE office, teased that the email would be forthcoming in a post on X Saturday, writing: "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."
"It's terrible," one Department of Education employee whose work has been slowed by executive orders and layoffs said. "It feels like harassment, especially sending it out on a Saturday and boasting about it in advance on X so that everyone could be checking their email afternoon in anticipation of its arrival."
Another federal employee — from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — said they "can only imagine how many people they'll fire based on the responses/non-responses to this."
An additional employee wondered "how much money is being wasted" on having federal employees respond to the email, while yet another questioned who would review the replies.
A probationary federal worker told BI that they agreed with the need to cut waste, but felt that "taking a sledgehammer" to federal agencies isn't the best way to approach the issue.
"As part of the Trump Administration's commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC'ing their manager," an Office of Personnel Management spokesperson confirmed to BI in a statement. "Agencies will determine any next steps."
Many of the federal workers who spoke with BI said that hours after the DOGE email had been sent, they had still not received any communication from their supervisors regarding how or whether to respond.
"No idea how to respond being as this is from outside our chain of command," one federal worker told BI.
Others said they had been instructed by their union representatives or managers to wait for further direction before replying.
"Once again, agencies were caught off guard by these emails, just like the chaotic "Fork in the Road" email," the National Treasury Employees Union wrote in an email to its members, urging them not to respond until they receive further guidance. "This email is yet another attempt by the administration to scare hardworking civil servants who deliver for the American people every day. It is shameful. We will update you soon."
The American Federation of Government Employees said in a Sunday letter to the OPM that the email "fails to identify any legal authority permitting OPM to demand the requested information."
"Federal employees report to their respective agencies through their established chains of command; they do not report to OPM," the AFGE letter reads. "The email was nothing more than an irresponsible and sophomoric attempt to create confusion and bully the hard-working federal employees that serve our country."
The productivity email that was sent to federal workers did not include Musk's comment on X that employees who did not respond by the Monday night deadline would be considered as having resigned. Several workers who saw his post said they wondered whether that would be possible — or legal.
"I question whether them firing people based on a nonresponse to this would be legal," the Department of Education employee said. "There are a number of agencies, like DOJ, which has attorney-client privilege, or DHS, which engages with national security topics, where people will surely be told by supervisors not to respond."
Some of the federal workers who spoke to Business Insider had resolved not to respond. Others, disheartened by the aggressive funding and job cuts propelled by the White House DOGE office, said they had begun looking for other work even if they didn't believe they'd be fired.
A member of the Department of Health and Human Services' Disaster Medical Assistance Team, part time disaster workers who respond to federal disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, suggested they might resign either way.
"I have another job like the rest of us and I don't need this type of stress," the DMAT member said. "Maybe I'll just resign."
The employee said they're part of a group of people that thrives "in stressful situations," but that the stress of having their job in limbo "is different."
Are you a federal employee who received this email? Share your thoughts by using a non-work device to email [email protected] and [email protected].
President Donald Trump made good on a campaign promise when he created DOGE.
Jim WATSON/AFP
The White House DOGE office is continuing to crack down on federal employees.
On Saturday, federal workers got an email asking them to list what they accomplished last week.
Some federal workers told BI they weren't sure how to respond, given work stoppage orders.
The White House DOGE office had an email sent to federal employees on Saturday asking them to list what work they accomplished in the last week.
The subject of the email, which was seen by Business Insider, read, "What did you do last week?"
"Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager," the message sent from the OPM's HR email address reads. "Please do not sendany classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is the Monday at 11:59pmEST."
An email was received by federal employees asking them to list the work tasks they accomplished over the last week.
Anonymous Department of Education Source
The emails followed President Donald Trump's instruction to Elon Musk to "get more aggressive" in reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy. Musk had teased that the emails would be forthcoming in a subsequent post on X, writing: "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," but the email received by employees did not detail any potential consequences for failing to reply by the deadline.
One Department of Education employee whose work has been affected by executive orders and layoffs told Business Insider that they planned to check in with their supervisor before responding to the email and were uncertain how to reply.
"Everything I normally do is on hold because they are reviewing it so I'm at a total work stoppage," the Department of Education employee said. "I could go into everything I normally do that they are currently holding up. Another approach would be not to respond."
Are you a federal employee who received this email from the DOGE office? Tell the reporters of this article how you plan to respond by using a non-work device to email [email protected] and [email protected].
The email also confounded and frustrated other federal employees who spoke to Business Insider.
"No idea how to respond being as this is from outside our chain of command," one federal worker told BI. "This is pure harassment."
Another federal employee — from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — said they "can only imagine how many people they'll fire based on the responses/non-responses to this."
"I'm not running cover for this horseshit," one employee of the Federal Communications Commission told BI.
In just a matter of weeks, Trump and the White House DOGE office have gone full steam ahead to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy.
About 77,000 federal workers accepted the buyouts Trump offered shortly after he took office for his second term. The administration has laid off scores of workers at the US Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other key agencies. Several top-level officials who initially pushed back against Musk's efforts have now resigned or retired.
Dozens of employees at the Office of Personnel Management were fired on Thursday as part of a mass layoff of probationary workers across multiple federal agencies.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Image
Thousands of federal workers have been fired across multiple federal agencies.
The layoffs target probationary workers, who typically have been in a role for less than two years.
It comes as the Trump administration targets spending in the federal government.
Mass layoffs swept through federal agencies on this week, as the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the federal workforce led to thousands of workers being terminated.
Agencies from the Office of Personnel Management to the US Forest Service notified probationary employees on Thursday of their termination, multiple sources inside each of those agenciestold Business Insider.
Workers classified as "probationary" typically have less than two years of experience in their roles. The layoffs came one day after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's buyout offer could proceed.
David Rice, a probationary employee at the Department of Energy, received his termination notice — reviewed by BI — on Thursday night. He was hired in September after serving in the Army for 25 years, and he said that had he not checked his email before he was locked out of the system, he never would have known.
"I would have tried to log in on Tuesday morning and found out that I can't log in," Rice said. "I never would even been notified because no one's called me. No one's told me anything other than just sending me an email after hours."
Here's a look at which agencies have been affected.
Forest Service
About 3,400 probationary workers at Forest Service were fired on Thursday, Dennis Lapcewich, the vice president of the Forest Service Council of the National Federation of Federal Employees union, told BI.
The USFS employs about 35,000 people.
A USFS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
"It's like watching the enemy advance and seeing that the next town over just got razed," a National Park Service employee told BI.
A USFS employee who has worked in the federal government for six years told BI that he's most worried about the long-term effects of the cuts on those who rely on the forest service's resources.
"I worry about myself personally, but I'm a public servant. I care about the public. I took an oath to the Constitution," he said. Though he's not a probationary employee and wasn't fired, he said he learned on a group video call on Thursday about the terminations and that some senior leadership in the Washington office would be immediately reassigned.
"These are the next generation of public servants. Obviously, with anything in life, you want to have some type of succession plan. We're missing out on building the succession plan," he told BI.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
OPM, which is essentially the US government's HR department and oversees the retirement accounts for about 2.8 million active federal workers, fired dozens of probationary employees on Thursday.
On the call, which took place around 2:40 PM ET, an OPM official announced that affected employees had until 3 PM ET —approximately 20 minutes — to gather their belongings before their access to the office and IT systems would be terminated. BI reviewed a recording of the call.
"Professionalism my ass," one probationary employee who was laid off told BI over text. "Definitely wasn't treated with dignity."
Department of Education and Small Business Administration
Termination notices were also sent to probationary workers at the Department of Education and Small Business Administration on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to letters that were viewed by BI.
A letter sent to one Department of Education employee whose identity was verified by Business Insider said the agency found that the worker did not demonstrate their employment would be "in the public interest."
At least 60 probationary employees with the Department of Education received the letters or received phone calls from management, union officials told BI.
An SBA spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment from BI. A representative from the Department of Education declined to comment to BI.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A probationary employee at the CDC told BI that she and her colleagues spent much of Friday anxiously waiting to hear if they were being fired. At 4:00 p.m. ET that day, she joined a group video call, which BI reviewed an audio recording of. On the call, senior leadership said that around 750 probationary employees would be terminated that day. Employees were not allowed to ask questions.
The speaker said they learned of the terminations this morning and that those impacted would receive their termination notices from the Health and Human Services Department today. Some temporary appointment employees might also be laid off, the speaker said on the call. Senior leadership said they'd received a list of impacted workers and could flag any "errors" to HHS
"If an individual receives those notifications, their access to their government systems here at the agency as well as their badges — they're going to be turned off today once those notices go out," the speaker said on the video call.
As of 15 minutes after the call, neither the employee nor any of the colleagues they spoke to had received a termination notice, and their boss didn't know if they were on the list of impacted workers.
Veterans Affairs
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the termination of 1,000 employees on Thursday.
The VA press release said that it dismissed "non-bargaining unit probationary employees" who had served two years or less in their appointments, and the agency estimated the terminations would save it more than $98 million per year.
"This was a tough decision, but ultimately it's the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve," VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement.
"To be perfectly clear," Collins said, "these moves will not negatively impact VA healthcare, benefits, or beneficiaries. In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors."
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated dozens of probationary employees on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The termination notice, reviewed by BI, stated: "The Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge, and skills do not fit the Agency's current needs."
The agency also terminated temporary staff, known as term employees, who are on contracts that are set to last between two and four years, another source told BI.
An analyst on a two-year fellowship that began in June 2023 said she was informed of her firing in an email to her personal email address at around 7 pm on Thursday. By the time she got the termination letter, she'd already been locked out of her work email.
"I was at a party, and I found out through my coworkers first," she said.
The ex-employee's contract was set to end in June of this year, and she was exploring opportunities to stay at the agency. Now, she's most concerned with making sure she has health insurance.
"I have upcoming appointments, and I'm thinking, do I have to reschedule them? Do I have to schedule certain things earlier that aren't recommended by my doctor?" she said.
It's not clear how long terminated employees will be able to keep their health insurance.
The terminations follow CFPB's acting director, Russell Vought, directing all employees at the agency to stop working and obtain written permission to perform any of their duties.
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said it had laid off roughly 400 federal employees.
"EPA has terminated 388 probationary employees after a thorough review of agency functions in accordance with President Trump's executive orders. EPA has followed standard protocols and procedures, ensuring impacted staff received notification of their status," the agency said in a statement. "President Trump was elected with a mandate to create a more effective and efficient federal government that serves all Americans, and we are doing just that."
The mass layoff of probationary staff occurred one day after a federal judge allowed the administration to continue its deferred resignation program.
Known as the "Fork in the Road" offer, more than 2 million employees were given the choice in January to resign in exchange for pay and benefits until the end of September or remain in their roles without guarantee that they will keep their jobs. Over 75,000 employees took the buyout.
Multiple legal challenges have been raised in response to the flurry of executive orders from the Trump administration.
On February 7, a federal judge temporarily blocked the US Agency for International Development from placing 2,200 employees on paid leave. The block is set to end on Friday at midnight.
Lapcewich, the union representative for the US Forest Service, told BI that legal avenues are being explored in response to the latest layoff of probationary workers.
"All I can tell you is that legal issues are being pursued by union lawyers," he said.
Do you work at a federal agency? Share your experience and thoughts with these reporters at [email protected]and [email protected] or via Signal at alicetecotzky.05 and asheffey.97.
President-elect Donald Trump called on Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump has called on Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling.
He said doing so before his term would put the onus on Joe Biden and let him avoid an early fight.
Going over the debt ceiling could lead to a default and a deep recession.
The debt ceiling is the unexpected debate in Washington this week after President-elect Donald Trump threw the annual holiday-season government-funding talks into disarray.
Trump said he wanted to raise or eliminate the limit on how much the federal government can borrow. Doing so now would mean the much-debated move would happen on President Joe Biden's watch and be resolved before Trump takes office, when he'll want to implement his agenda without a fight over borrowing limits.
"Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling," Trump wrote Friday in a Truth Social post. "Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.'"
This all comes amid a chaotic scramble to reach a funding deal for the US government and avoid a shutdown when Friday ends. The debt ceiling was one of the sticking points Trump used to scrap a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded through March. Now he's revisiting a much-used political tool.
"Trump is right to identify that he doesn't want his fingerprints on increasing the debt ceiling, and he doesn't want to have to deal with it in six months while he's trying to pass what he considers a must-pass tax-extension bill," Elizabeth Pancotti, the director of special initiatives at the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute think tank, told Business Insider.
A debt-ceiling breach has become a political tool — one that Trump is trying to wield for the last time
The debt ceiling limits the amount of money the federal government is allowed to borrow to pay for its programs and operations. If it's not regularly raised or suspended, the US government risks defaulting on its debt and failing to pay its bills.
This could compromise everyday Americans' access to crucial government programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and housing vouchers. Len Burman, a fellow at the think tank Urban Institute, told BI that a default could also cause interest rates to rise drastically if investors no longer viewed the US government as a creditworthy borrower. That would mean Americans may face higher rates on mortgages and credit cards, which could lead to a broader financial crisis and deep recession.
Because of these widespread consequences, the debt ceiling has evolved into a political bargaining chip, and the US has repeatedly come close to breaching it over partisan disagreements, most recently in 2023. That's why some Democrats have long advocated abolishing the ceiling, arguing that Republicans weaponize it to push spending cuts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren capitalized on Trump's recent comments, writing Thursday morning on X that she agreed with him on terminating the debt limit.
During recent debt-ceiling standoffs, various plans to sidestep the limit were floated. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told BI that the president could invoke a clause in the 14th Amendment that would declare a default and the debt ceiling that caused that default unconstitutional.
Other ideas to eliminate the debt ceiling have included minting a $1 trillion platinum coin, which some economists have said would allow the Treasury secretary to deposit the coin to pay off debts.
In an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Trump said that Republicans who didn't support repealing the debt limit could face primary challenges; many Republicans have historically opposed getting rid of it, arguing that it's a check on borrowing. Trump told NBC News that Democrats had signaled they wanted to get rid of the debt limit and that he would "lead the charge" to do so.
The country will technically hit the debt ceiling at the start of next year, but the Treasury Department can hold off default and keep paying the bills through various accounting tricks, likely until late spring or early summer.
