Trump administration confuses government workers with email test message

A caller Trump medication program to nonstop an alert to the national government's astir 2.3 cardinal employees from a azygous email code launched this week and confused astatine slightest immoderate of the fertile and file, who were acrophobic it looked suspicious. 

The Office of Personnel Management "is investigating a caller capableness allowing them to nonstop important communications to ALL Federal employees from a azygous message address, [hr-at-opm-.gov] If you person an email from this address, it tin beryllium considered trusted," according to the connection sent Friday. 

CBS News obtained a screengrab of the connection and confirmed its authenticity with aggregate national employees and officials. 

OPM, which serves arsenic the national government's quality resources and worker benefits department, sent the government-wide connection overnight, 2 bureau officials confirmed to CBS News.

"This is simply a caller effort nether this administration," 1 of the officials said.

White House officials didn't instantly respond to questions astir what the caller email alert strategy mightiness beryllium utilized for oregon wherefore the caller strategy was being implemented this week.

The Washington Post besides reported connected Friday that akin messages went retired astatine different agencies and departments starting connected Thursday. Several radical who assertion to beryllium authorities employees reported the email arsenic spam oregon phishing successful two Reddit threads for national employees. One idiosyncratic successful these Reddit threads said the Food and Drug Administration had sent retired an email Friday asking employees to halt reporting it, since the connection is legitimate. 

The email seen by CBS News came with a informing from respective departments' accusation exertion offices that the connection "originated from extracurricular the Department" and its contented mightiness not beryllium safe.

"Everyone thought it was spam," said the tipster, who asked that the screengrab not beryllium published. "There was a flurry of messages, 'Is this spam?'" 

Waking up to a suspicious-looking email connected Friday greeting did small to calm nerves amid a question of large unit changes crossed the national authorities this week. President Trump, arsenic promised during his statesmanlike campaign, issued caller executive actions and enforcement orders this week freezing immoderate hiring; temporarily halting the publication of authorities nationalist wellness reports; calling for the end of national diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and reviving a projected civilian work hiring program from his archetypal medication that critics pass could politicize the historically nonpartisan national workforce. 

And the caller medication is seeking ways to basal retired waste, fraud, maltreatment and Biden-era policies with a new authorities ratio program led by billionaire businessman Elon Musk. 

"They had to nonstop this this week, of each weeks? Really?" said the idiosyncratic who flagged the email.

OPM officials said leaders of different agencies and departments received beforehand announcement connected Thursday of plans to trial a caller "Federal Government-Wide Email Communication Test," which was besides posted connected the OPM web site. In immoderate cases, the rank-and-file didn't larn astir plans for the email until it arrived, starring to Friday morning's confusion, 1 of the officials said.

Representatives of the American Federation of Government Employees, 1 of the largest labour unions representing civilian national workers, had nary contiguous remark connected the caller email system.

Erielle Delzer contributed to this report.