WASHINGTON

US federal employees have been instructed to remove their pronouns from their email signatures by Friday afternoon, ABC News reported Friday.

According to the report, the internal memos cited two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office seeking to curb diversity and equity programs in the federal government.

"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," according to one such message sent Friday morning from Jason Bonander, the CDC's chief information officer. "Staff are being asked to alter signature blocks by 5.p.m. ET today (Friday, January 31, 2025) to follow the revised policy."

The employees were instructed to remove pronouns from everything from government grant applications to email signatures across the department, ABC News said in its report, citing sources.

Besides federal employees with the Department of Transportation, the employees at the Department of Energy also received similar directives to meet requirements in Trump's executive order, according to the report.

On his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump signed executive orders targeting broad changes across federal institutions and national policy priorities.

The directives include an overhaul of federal hiring practices, emphasizing merit-based selection while eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across government agencies.