Patel excludes FBI from Musk's instructions, plans to implement his own review process

New FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Saturday that the FBI will carry out its own reviews, excluding the agency from the Elon Musk-driven productivity initiative.

Just a day after taking office as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Patel issued an internal statement instructing staff not to respond to an email sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which requested a report detailing tasks performed during the past week.

The message, drafted by Patel himself and addressed to all FBI employees, stated, "FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”

Musk's initiative, announced hours earlier via his social networking account X, is part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)'s efforts to make the federal government more efficient and smaller.

In a release, Musk stated that "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.”