The once-obscure Office of Personnel Management, essentially the human resources department of the federal government, is now ground zero for Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash bureaucracy and deconstruct vast portions of the administrative state.

The human capital agency updated guidance to say it’s “not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions.”

The Office of Personnel Management email Wednesday to remote workers, some thousands of miles from Washington, told them they are being relocated.

Much of the U.S. civil service has recoiled at DOGE’s attempts to revamp the government. Others have been promoted.

A second email asking government workers to detail what they did in the last week went out to some agencies on Saturday.

Maryland Democratic Senator Chis Van Hollen joined federal workers at a rally outside of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Tuesday.

Each worker asked us to remain anonymous for fear of jeopardizing their jobs. But all of them said they got emails from the Federal Office of Personnel Management demanding all employees submit bullet points of what they did last week.

The Office of Personnel Management has revised a Jan. 20 memo asking federal agencies to identify probationary employees ahead of a mass firing. The reissued memo does not order fired workers reinstated.

Attorneys general are suing the Trump administration, saying federal agencies unlawfully fired probationary employees without the required notice.

OPM employees working remotely can decline the management-directed reassignment, but with the understanding their choice will result in termination proceedings.