The Trump Administration's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has notified the heads of all federal agencies and departments that Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices are to be closed by end of day Wednesday, and all staff to be placed on paid leave.

According to the notice issued by Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell, all departments and agencies are to:

• Send an agency-wide notice to employees informing them of the closure and asking employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language
• Send a notification to all employees of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.
• Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices
• Withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, materials and equity plans issued by the agency in response to the now-repealed Executive Order 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce (June 25, 2021)
• Cancel any DEIA-related trainings and terminate any DEIA-related contractors

The heads of agencies and departments are also instructed to share the following with OPM by noon Thursday, Jan. 23;

• A complete list of DEIA offices and any employees who were in those offices as of Nov. 5, 2024
• A complete list of all DEIA-related agency contracts as of Nov. 5, 2024
• Any agency plans to fully comply with the above executive orders and this memorandum

By Friday at 5 p.m., agency heads must submit to OPM:

• A written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding the employees who work in a DEIA office
• A list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEIA programs

The action comes after President Trump signed an Executive Order that eliminates all DEI programs within the federal government, and signed another order making it "the official policy of the U.S. government to only recognize two genders: male and female."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the action on X:

Meanwhile, the Trump State Department has told all Embassies and Outposts that they can only fly the American Flag at facilities, and no others...