Trump made good on a campaign promise when he created the DOGE.
Jim WATSON / AFP
The White House DOGE office is continuing its crackdown on federal employees' productivity.
On Saturday, federal workers got an email asking them to list what work they accomplished last week.
Some federal workers told BI they weren't sure how to respond, given work stoppage orders.
On Saturday, the White House DOGE office sent an email to federal employees asking them to list what work they accomplished in the last week.
The subject of the email, which was reviewed 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 email 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.
One Department of Education employee who was placed on administrative leave by the Trump administration on January 31 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."
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
Donald Trump has said a deal for Ukraine's rare earth metals is "pretty close" and the US is targeting "anything we can get" in exchange for the aid it's provided.
The Switchbot S10 is one robot vacuum with Matter support.
Apple released the first developer beta of iOS 18.4 yesterday, which users have since discovered contains support for robot vacuums in the Apple Home app through Matter.
As spotted by 9to5Mac, Smart Home Centre confirmed the functionality using a Switchbot S10, which offers its own beta support for Matter. (Switchbot first added Matter robot vacuum support last year, but it required a hub and was kind of a hack.) Apple Home screenshots shared in the story show the robot vacuum’s Home widget (complete with a little robot vacuum glyph) along with a control screen featuring a start / stop button, options for choosing between “Vacuum” and “Vacuum and Mop,” selections for operating modes like “Quiet” or “Deep Clean.” There’s also a “Send to Dock” option, although Smart Home Centre notes that this only paused the S10.
Robot vacuums in the new iOS beta can also be added to automations and scenes. You can see how all of it works in the outlet’s video below.
Apple was expected to add Matter support for robot vacuum cleaners last year, but that didn’t materialize. Few robot vacuum companies offer Matter support at the moment, and some of those are still waiting on a firmware update to enable it. Robot vacuum makers have confirmed to us that these models support Matter:
The woman who was run over by an Amazon delivery truck has been identified ... and, her lawyer says they're investigating whether to sue. Chelsey Douglas is the woman in the shocking video who was hit by the van ... and her lawyer, David Ellin,…
Debates over AI benchmarks — and how they’re reported by AI labs — are spilling out into public view. This week, an OpenAI employee accused Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, of publishing misleading benchmark results for its latest AI model, Grok 3. One of the co-founders of xAI, Igor Babushkin, insisted that the company was […]
President Donald Trump celebrated his whirlwind first four weeks back in the Oval Office in a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday afternoon, mentioning what he called "flagrant scams" uncovered by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
"I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency — you probably haven't heard of it — which is now waging war on government waste, fraud and abuse. And Elon is doing a great job," Trump said at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center Saturday in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside the nation's capital. "He's doing a great job."
Musk is leading DOGE as investigators scrutinize various federal agencies in an effort to curb government overspending and stamp out fraud. DOGE's work has become a lightening rod for criticism among Democratic lawmakers and government employees, who have filed a number of lawsuits attempting to end the investigations and audits.
"Here are some of the flagrant scams that, as an example, they've spent money on, and we've been able to recapture a large dose of it at least. Five hundred and 20 million dollars for a consultant … [on] environmental, social governance and investments in Africa," he said.
"Twenty-five million dollars to promote biodiversity conservation and socially responsible behavior in Colombia. This is Colombia, South America, not Columbia University. Of course, that might be worse. … Forty million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants.
"Forty-two million for social and behavior change in Uganda. Ten million for Mozambique medical male circumcisions. Why are we going to Mozambique to do circumcisions?" Trump asked, before continuing to rattle off a handful of other pricey initiatives funded by taxpayers uncovered by DOGE.
Earlier in the day, Trump sent a message on his Truth Social platform calling on Musk to "get more aggressive" with his DOGE work.
"Will do, Mr. President!" Musk responded just a few hours ahead of Trump's CPAC speech.
Musk later added on X, "Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."
"We have a very corrupt group of people in this country, and we're finding them out," Trump said during his speech. "We're removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce."
Trump said he and Musk will head to Fort Knox in Kentucky to ensure the United States Bullion Depository still houses a reported $425 billion in government gold. The Trump administration and Republican allies have called for more transparency about the vault.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the vault in 1943, which was followed by Treasury Secretary William Simon opening the vault to journalists and lawmakers in 1974 and again during the first Trump administration when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, inspected the vault.
"We are also going to Fort Knox. I'm going to go with Elon. And would anybody like to join us? Because we want to see if the gold is still there. We want to see," Trump said.
"Wouldn't that be terrible? We open [it] up, and this Fort Knox has got nothing. It's just solid granite that's five feet thick. The front door, you need six musclemen to open it up. I don't even think they have windows. Wouldn't that be terrible if we opened it up and there was no gold there? So, we're going to open those doors, we're going to take a look. And if there's 27 tons of gold, we'll be very happy," he added.
"I don't know how the hell we'll measure it, but that's OK."
Trump ended his first full month back in the White House this week, which has included a breakneck pace of executive orders and actions.
He took a victory lap for his whirlwind first month, touting in his speech the administration's work to end the "weaponization" of the government under the former Biden administration, his plan to soon impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign trading partners and celebrating the deportation of illegal immigrants from communities across the nation.
"We're liberating communities like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, that have been occupied by illegal alien criminals from all over the world," Trump said.
"We're rescuing the Americans whose jobs have been stolen, whose wages have been robbed and whose way of life has been absolutely destroyed. And, under the Trump administration, our country will not be turned into a dumping ground."
Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist, said Europe should be recruiting US-based scientists who face reductions in federal research funding.
Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images.
Meta's Yann LeCun warned there could be an exodus of US-based scientists due to funding cuts.
The Trump administration wants to slash NIH funding, causing concern in the scientific community.
LeCun said Europe should be recruiting them by offering more favorable research conditions.
The United States could soon see an exodus of tech talent, according to Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun.
"The US seems set on destroying its public research funding system. Many US-based scientists are looking for a Plan B," LeCun wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Saturday.
The Trump administration has issued several executive orders to reduce funding, sparking concern among the US-based scientific community.
It announced drastic cuts to the National Institutes of Health that would effectively end billions in federal funding for biomedical research. A judge on Friday extended a temporary block on the cuts as lawsuits filed by states and universities who say the cuts are illegal make their way through the court system.
"A sane government would never do this," former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier said of the funding cuts in a post on X.
Elon Musk's cost-cutting DOGE squad has also been deployed to federal agencies, including the NIH, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and NASA.
The executive order that Trump signed against diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates has also caused concern that it could threaten scientific research at universities.
"At least one university is telling its researchers to refrain from terms like "biodiversity" to steer clear of detection by AI-based grant review systems, " Scientific American reported.
LeCun — who earned his bachelor's and Ph.D. in France — said the changes in the United States should be a wake-up call for European institutions and companies.
"You may have an opportunity to attract some of the best scientists in the world," he wrote.
He shared seven things he believes talented researchers want to see at any university, company, or public research agency they're joining:
Access to top students and junior collaborators.
Access to research funding with little administrative overhead.
Good compensation (comparable with top universities in the US, Switzerland, Canada).
Freedom to do research on what they think is most promising.
Access to research facilities (e.g. computing infrastructure, etc).
Ability to collaborate/consult with industry and startups.
Moderate teaching and administrative duties.
His message to Europe: "To attract the best scientific and technological talents, make science and technology research professions attractive."
The New York Yankees still have a hole in their infield after the departure of Gleyber Torres. Have they resisted doing so because they can't afford it?
New York Jets quarterback Tyrod Taylor spoke to Newsweek Sports in an exclusive interview on his partnership with LIGHT and staying ready to lead the team in 2025.
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