A video went out from the Secretary of Defense over X today.
Let’s just ignore that X is not an official communications system for the moment. Pretend like these directions were given to DoD employees through proper channels.
Some of you who work for private employers are saying right now “what’s the big deal? Why can’t you just do this? You don’t know your job?” As I explained in an earlier post, It’s not a question of being capable of writing the five bullets. I already do this. I report to my chain of command what I’ve done weekly.
It’s more about what this version of my weekly report will be used for.
If we take the Secretary of Defense at his word, at 1:28, he says this is “just a pulse check.” If the SECDEF doesn’t know that an employee is really there unless they respond to an email… But let’s give the benefit of the doubt again. This is the only way he can know we’re alive.
So why do we need to list five things we did? If it’s just a pulse check, why not just respond with “what’s up?” or “howdy”? Remember, a month ago we had the ability to resign from our job by email. We will get an 8 month deferred resignation by just putting the word “resign” in an email to OPM. But now, suddenly, they don’t know if we’re alive unless we write five bullets?
And why do we need to CC our supervisor? Doesn’t our supervisor communicate with us every day? Mine does. As I established, I already send him weekly accomplishments, and beyond that, I talk to him every day.
Heck, remember we all had to return to the office full time so that we can see each other again. There’s no way to communicate with team members unless you do it in person! (Unless of course, you send a message on X…. anyway).
So, less than a minute later, he says this isn’t just a pulse check. At around 2:05, he explains the purpose of the information we are providing. While we’re not to put any sensitive information, they will take this email into consideration as they look to streamline and tailor the workforce.
In other words, our jobs depend on what we put in these emails. But with one hand tied behind our back, because we can’t include sensitive information. The bullets I sent my boss aren’t very useful here. But I may get fired for not being “essential” enough.
Also, please consider that this video was posted on a Sunday. The goal is to terrorize us. They’ve said as much. This administration wants to make us worry over the weekend about how to respond to this email when we get in tomorrow. I’m thinking right now how to explain what I did last week, in a completely unclassified way, rather than enjoying my day of rest.
But, circling back again, why do we also need to CC our manager?
Think about this: If you are the world’s richest man, but you had no idea what work roles people in the government have (as evidenced by firing and then having to go rehire people), how could you figure it out? What if you also had access to an email server and your own company’s AI tools?
How about if everyone writes up an email describing their job, and then also tells you who they report to. Then you can start to build a network…
These 10 people all report to Alice. So Alice’s team works on all these bullets. These 8 people work for Bill. Here’s Bill’s team’s responsibilities. And Bill and Alice both report to Connie. So Connie’s teams do all these things…. and so on, and so on…
Imagine that one database has this level of information about the entire federal workforce.
It shows who works for whom. It shows what teams do what mission. It shows where America’s priorities lie, based on the fact that there are 180 people doing this job, but only 3 doing that… It has a lot of information that is seemingly innocent by itself, but dangerous in aggregate.
Now, consider that this email is going to an unsecured external mail server.
This is the type of information that a foreign entity would love to get their hands on. I’m just glad we have such strong cybersecurity to protect it from our adversaries.
Oh crap.
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