This piece has been updated from its original email version.
The Department of Health and Human Services sent an email out Monday morning instructing employees to rat out diversity, equity, and inclusion practices inside the agency. The email comes amid a larger push by the Trump administration against such policies, which Donald Trump, who has a history of making racist and derogatory remarks, framed as “anti-white” racism on the campaign trail.
On the day of his inauguration, the president signed an executive order to end DEI policies inside the federal government titled, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs Reporting.”
“Pursuant to Executive Order 13985 and follow-on orders, nearly every Federal agency and entity submitted ‘Equity Action Plans’ to detail the ways that they have furthered DEIs infiltration of the Federal Government,” it read. “The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today.”
Monday’s HHS email stemmed from the order. It called on employees to inform on whether, in the last five years, they had witnessed any “discriminatory language” in grants, contracts, or training materials; whether they knew anyone who had been passed over for a promotion based on immutable characteristics; whether they knew any former employees who quit or faced discipline under the Biden administration for non-compliance with DEI policies. It also asks if they knew of any discriminatory DEI policies currently in place.
Speaking to Important Context on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from leadership, an HHS source called the email “very weird stuff” and “totally disconnected from reality.”
Another email recipient inside the agency said they had a “BS folder for messages like that.”
The message instructs recipients to submit their answers via a Microsoft Forms questionnaire that requires no verification or authentication of any kind to fill out.
Already, some members of the public have begun calling to fake answers and joke responses with one BlueSky user posting, “Please do not go to forms.office.com/g/HXGhXVdGKZ and put the most weird or funny responses in there. Seriously, don't do that!”
“it would suck if a bunch of people submitted responses at forms.office.com/g/HXGhXVdGKZ,” another wrote.
Another HHS insider who spoke to Important Context on the condition of anonymity, expressed delight at the prospect of the trolling.
“I hope they have fun with it,” they said. “I wonder what movie script they will send.”
In recent weeks, HHS—and specifically the National Institutes of Health—have come under heavy scrutiny for terminating research, including studies mid-trial, related to the anti-DEI push. Last month, hundreds of NIH workers, current and former, signed onto a “declaration” denouncing Director Jay Bhattacharya and his stewardship of the agency. Among the complaints was Bhattacharya’s alleged politicization of science “by halting high quality, peer reviewed grants and contracts.”