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By Jordan King
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Elon Musk's claim that a government Ebola initiative was quickly restored after being accidentally canceled is being questioned by a former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) official.
Newsweek has contacted X, via email, for comment on behalf of Musk. It has also contacted DOGE, via direct message on X.
Why It Matters
Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have faced intense backlash, especially over the move to shut down USAID, which has led to fears about the consequences of ending humanitarian health initiatives around the world. Addressing Donald Trump's Cabinet on Wednesday, Musk defended DOGE, saying the department would quickly fix mistakes.
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What To Know
Musk said: "We 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 canceled, very briefly, was Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention. So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately, and there was no interruption."
But Nidhi Bouri, who oversaw USAID's response to health care outbreaks under the Biden administration, told The Washington Post: "There have been no efforts to 'turn on' anything in prevention" of Ebola and other diseases."
She added: "The full spectrum—the investments in disease surveillance, the investments in what we mobilize ... moving commodities, supporting lab workers—that capacity is now a tenth of what it was."
A current USAID official was anonymously quoted by The Washington Post as saying: "There was a waiver for Ebola, but USAID funds have never been back online. USAID has been frozen: staff and money." Newsweek was unable to independently verify this quote.
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Similarly, Jeremy Konyndyk, who says he previously led Ebola outbreak responses at USAID, wrote on X: "This is bunk from Elon. They have laid off most of the experts, they're bankrupting most of the partner orgs, have withdrawn from the World Health Organization, and muzzled CDC. What's left is a fig-leaf effort to cover their asses politically."
What People Are Saying
Konyndyk said: "Elon's vendetta against USAID and the federal workforce is shredding all of the systems that the USG has built up to protect the U.S. homeland against global outbreak risks. Scrambling to recall a few staff and issue some belated funding is just window dressing."
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said: "An average person who did something as incompetent as 'accidentally canceling Ebola prevention' wouldn't be applauded, they'd be fired. 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."
Musk has often spoken about his philosophy of embracing failure, saying previously: "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."
What Happens Next
USAID has been shut down and the Trump administration has said it is eliminating more than 90 percent for USAID contracts, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press.
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