Employees at multiple federal agencies have been ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures by Friday afternoon, according to internal memos obtained by ABC News. The directive is tied to two executive orders signed by Trump on his first day in office, aimed at rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government.
A message sent Friday morning from Jason Bonander, Chief Information Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), instructed employees to comply with the new policy immediately. “Pronouns and any other information not permitted in the policy must be removed from CDC/ATSDR employee signatures by 5 p.m. ET on Friday,” Bonander wrote.
A similar order was issued to employees at the Department of Transportation on Thursday, the same day the agency was managing the fallout from the D.C. plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. According to sources, staff were told to remove pronouns from everything, including government grant applications and email signatures.
The Department of Energy also issued a similar directive, stating that the move aligns with Trump’s executive order requiring the removal of DEI language in federal communications and publications.
It remains unclear whether additional federal agencies have received similar instructions. Spokespeople for the CDC, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump signed the executive orders on January 30, 2025, as part of his administration’s effort to eliminate DEI programs across the federal government. The policies were described as a move to end “radical and wasteful DEI programs” and restore “biological truth to the federal government.”
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) also issued a memo on Wednesday, directing agencies to turn off features in email systems, such as Outlook, that prompt users to include pronouns.
At least one longtime government employee expressed frustration over the new mandate. “In my decade-plus years at CDC, I’ve never been told what I can and can’t put in my email signature,” said one recipient, who requested anonymity out of concern for retribution.
