SpaceX, Twitter and electric automobile maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk, arrives for a US Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Three Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have asked the Pentagon for details about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and whether he “directed the unilateral disabling or impediment of function of Starlink satellite communications terminals utilized by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Ukraine in 2022,” or ever had the authority to accomplish that.
Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of Latest Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote a letter on Friday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to exppress their “serious concerns about whether Mr. Musk has personally intervened to undermine a key U.S. partner at a critical juncture.”
Their questions follow the publication of a biography of Elon Musk, who’s CEO of SpaceX and automaker Tesla, and owner and CTO of the social network X (formerly Twitter). Within the book, writer Walter Isaacson wrote that a Ukrainian drone submarine attack on Russian warships was disrupted by a disconnect from Starlink, ordered by Musk.
Excerpts from the book raised alarm bells in Washington, amongst NATO allies and within the Ukrainian capital. After they were published, Musk painted himself as a peacekeeper, and wrote on social media that he didn’t disconnect Starlink over Crimea, but fairly denied a request by Ukraine to offer it there. He wrote, “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX can be explicitly complicit in a serious act of war and conflict escalation.” Isaacson has issued a correction to his biography stating that connectivity had already been disabled within the affected area, and that Musk had simply refused a request to show it on.
Musk also argued, as he has up to now, that Ukraine should strike a “truce” with Russia. Musk’s “peace plan” argument was shouted down by Ukraine officials, politicians, and Putin experts.
On Tuesday, in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Isaacson discussed SpaceX developing a military-grade version of Starlink, which might help resolve concerns expressed by Musk regarding the satellite networks’ use in war.
CNBC asked the Department of Defense several questions pertaining to SpaceX, including whether the department can be re-evaluating any of the corporate’s government contracts, whether Musk’s calls for a truce between Ukraine and Russia reflect the U.S. government’s position, and whether Musk’s conduct, including taking personal meetings with Putin up to now, had been in step with the terms of contracts awarded to his company.
A spokesperson for the department, Jeff Jurgensen, told CNBC via e-mail, “The Department does contract with Starlink for satellite communication services in support of our Ukrainian partners,” but declined to supply further details or answer the particular questions posed.
He added that the Department of Defense “continues to work closely with business industry to make sure we’ve got the fitting capabilities the Ukrainians must defend themselves — and more broadly — the type of communication and space-related capabilities mandatory to perform our own global missions and support our national defense strategy.”
Earlier within the week, Sen. Warren called for a Congressional probe of Musk and SpaceX. “Congress needs to research what’s happened here, and whether we’ve got adequate tools to make sure that foreign policy is conducted by the federal government and never by one billionaire,” Warren said on Monday, Bloomberg first reported.
SpaceX is currently working to acquire a latest license from the Federal Aviation Administration, and approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to resume test flights for its Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle from its Boca Chica, Texas facility. An earlier test flight this 12 months resulted in an explosion and a mishap investigation overseen and recently accomplished by the FAA.
The corporate plans to make use of Starship to launch and deploy its next generation Starlink satellites. Musk also envisions Starship taking astronauts and supplies to the Moon, and eventually Mars.