Federal workers from several agencies returned to the office Monday morning, and some recently retired feds were standing outside the doors of the Environmental Protection Agency, welcoming employees back with encouragement and a free cup of coffee.
Their return to in-person work comes as they all received an email asking for an account of their past week’s work.
“It’s guerrilla warfare of morale,” said Leonard Bailey, a former federal prosecutor. “We went ahead, we bought buttons, we bought stickers, we bought coffee. And you know, we hope that folks understand that we really appreciate them.”
He was joined by a man only wanting to be identified as David, who was holding a sign outside the Federal Triangle Metro station reading, “Thanks EPA and USAID.”
They both handed out tickets for a free cup of coffee at a local cafe and buttons that read, “Federal Workers are True Patriots.”
“I think some federal employees look shell-shocked and just walk by, others are crying out of appreciation. Some just get a smile on their face because of the recognition that brothers in arms know they’re doing a good job,” said David, a former EPA lawyer with three decades of experience.
He retired from the agency two weeks ago as cuts to the federal workforce began under the “Department of Government Efficiency,” an initiative created by President Donald Trump’s administration to reduce government spending.
Both retired federal employees were shocked by recent developments, including an email from DOGE asking, “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”
“I think that the message that the administration is trying to send around efficiency and cost saving is an important message,” David said. “The methodology that’s being used, including that email asking you what you did, is just pure intimidation.”
“I’ve worked for six administrations, three Republican, three Democrat, and no, we’ve not seen this sort of chaos, this sort of disrespect to the federal workforce,” Bailey added.
DOGE’s head, Elon Musk, posted on X that it’s received a large number of good responses to that email. He also called the email a “very simple pulse check” and stated many people working at the government are doing so little work that they are not checking email at all.