- Elon Musk said on Wednesday that DOGE "accidentally" cut Ebola prevention funding.
- The apparent error occurred as DOGE implemented cuts to USAID.
- Musk said that DOGE "won't be perfect."
To make his point that the White House DOGE office wouldn't be perfect, Elon Musk said on Wednesday that that staffers briefly cut Ebola prevention funding while an outbreak raged in Uganda.
"I should say also, we will make mistakes. We won't be perfect," Musk told President Donald Trump's cabinet. "When we make mistakes, we'll fix it very quickly. So, for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola prevention."
Trump had asked Musk to speak about DOGE's efforts during the first cabinet meeting of his second term.
Musk said "there was no interruption" in Ebola prevention. He said DOGE needs to move "very quickly" to stay on track to achieve its goal of cutting at least $1 trillion.
"I think we all want Ebola prevention," he said.
This is not the first time Musk has said DOGE may make mistakes. During a previous appearance with Trump in the Oval Office, Musk said he "would not bat 1,000." DOGE has also edited or even removed examples from its "wall of receipts" of spending cuts after reports raised questions about its accuracy. In one instance, DOGE claimed to have canceled a contract worth $8 billion. The contract was actually for $8 million.
On Tuesday, the White House revealed that Amy Gleason, a US Digital Digital Service employee during Trump's first term, is leading DOGE on an interim basis. Musk remains closely linked to DOGE, as evident by Trump's decision to have him speak during a cabinet meeting.
There is an ongoing Ebola outbreak.
Uganda's health ministry official declared on January 29 that there was an Ebola outbreak linked to the Sudan virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel notice earlier this month, restating that no US Ebola cases have been reported. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) conducted a number of health-related programs around the world.
Musk previously said that USAID was put "through the wood chipper." It is now being reorganized under the State Department. A State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, a Democrat, criticized Musk's apparent admittance of the oversight.
"An average person who did something as incompetent as 'accidentally cancelling Ebola prevention' wouldn't be applauded, they'd be fired," Beyer wrote on X. "Musk is failing up in this administration because he didn't earn his job, he bought it. It's corrupt, and risks Americans' health and safety."
