Elon Musk admits DOGE accidentally cut Ebola prevention aid: We won’t be perfect

Amid the raging controversy surrounding USAID funding cuts, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “accidentally cancelled” an Ebola prevention grant under the American aid agency. While he said “we won’t be perfect”, the tech billionaire assured that his controversial department “would fix it quickly”.

Musk, wearing a black ‘Make America Great Again’ cap and a t-shirt that said “tech support”, made the admission while addressing US President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House with top members of this administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

At the meeting, Trump introduced the SpaceX CEO as a “tremendously successful guy” who is working really hard with DOGE, established to oversee and cut government spending, despite running several successful businesses.

“He’s sacrificing a lot. He’s getting a lot of praise, I’ll tell you, but he’s also getting hit,” he added.

On his part, Musk said, “We (DOGE) will make mistakes. We won’t be perfect, but when we make mistakes we’ll fix it very quickly. For example, with USAID one of the things we accidentally cancelled, very briefly, was Ebola prevention.”

“We restored the Ebola prevention immediately, there was no interruption. But, we do need to move quickly if we are to achieve a trillion dollar deficit reduction in financial year 2026. This requires saving 4 billion dollars per day, everyday from now through the end of September,” he said and stressed, “we can do it and we will do it”.

Musk’s remarks came amid the ongoing controversy surrounding DOGE’s February 16 announcement to cut $723 million in foreign aid funding, which included $21 million for India and $29 million for Bangladesh, as part of the Department’s broader budget overhaul plans..

The announcement has led to a massive political row in India, as Trump hinted at possible election interference by the former administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden, while questioning the requirement for millions of dollars in funds given India’s strong economic position.

Earlier this week, Bangladesh’s NGO Affairs Bureau, a government body which facilitates the activities of NGOs operating across the country with foreign assistance, said the $29 million grant “was not seen in our records”.

This was Bangladesh’s first reaction to DOGE’s funding cut announcement.

Founded in 1961, USAID has an annual budget of more than $40 billion, used to support development, health and humanitarian programmes around the world, especially in poor countries.

Shortly after he returned to office, President Donald Trump ordered a near-total freeze on all foreign aid, with Musk also announcing DOGE’s intention of shutting down USAID.