The Trump administration sent an email to thousands of federal employees Wednesday, ordering them to report any efforts to “disguise” the agency’s diversity initiatives or face “negative consequences.”
The request comes after President Donald Trump banned diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and programs across the government.
The email, seen by the BBC, instructed staff to “report all facts and circumstances” to a new government email address within 10 days.
Some employees interpreted it as a request to sell out their colleagues to the White House.
“We were really shocked and overwhelmed,” said one Health and Human Services (HHS) employee.
The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal workforce, issued guidance requiring agency heads to send notices to employees by 17:00 Eastern Time on Wednesday. It contained a template of the email many federal employees ultimately received that night.
Some employees, such as Treasury staff, received a slightly different version of the email.
The Treasury email excluded warnings of “negative consequences” for failing to report DEI initiatives, according to a copy shared with the BBC.
In one of his first actions as president, Trump signed two executive orders ending “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI” programs within the federal government and banning all employees working in those roles from doing so. You will be placed on paid administrative leave immediately.
These programs are designed to increase minority workforce participation and educate employees about discrimination.
But critics of DEI, like Trump, argue that the practice itself is discriminatory because it takes race, gender, sexual identity or other characteristics into account.
Trump and his allies frequently attacked the practice during the campaign.
In a speech at the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, President Trump declared that he would make the United States a “merit-based nation.”
Critics of DEI praised Trump’s decision.
“President Trump’s executive order repealing affirmative action and banning DEI programs is an important milestone in the advancement of American civil rights and an important step toward building a colorblind society,” said Yukong Mike Zhao, president of the Asian American Coalition for Education. “step,” he said. name.
The group supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s successful effort to overturn affirmative action programs at American universities.
But current federal employees who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal said the emails they received felt like an attempt to intimidate employees rather than make the government fairer.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since taking office, President Trump has signed numerous executive orders, including freezing federal hiring, ordering workers to be reinstated and reclassifying thousands of civil servants to make firing them easier.
HHS employees interviewed by the BBC criticized the government’s DEI practices, saying they believe it is important to build a diverse workforce and create opportunities in health and care. “Identity politics are impacting the way we normally function and this affects the workforce”.
“But that doesn’t mean I want my colleagues to be fired,” the employee added.
He described the impact the email and DEI mandate had on his company as “a very calculated disruption.”
Given President Trump’s broad definition of DEI, staffing departments say they are confused by questions about future hiring practices and which programs and guidelines will continue to be permitted under Trump’s broad definition.
A second HHS employee said hiring and research grants have been frozen and the entire department staff is waiting to see what they can do next.
HHS and one of its agencies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), award millions of dollars in federal grants to universities and researchers around the world to advance scientific research.
Agency employees were concerned that the DEI mandate could have repercussions outside of government. One person questioned whether grants that would have allowed labs to create more opportunities to hire minority scientists and medical professionals would now get the axe.
An employee who worked at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told the BBC that they had not received the email but that all DEI-related activities had been paused.
“We were told by our seniors to keep working,” she said. “But there are fears about what impact this will have on our work as a whole.”
