Democratic senators demand Musk preserve records on Starshield restrictions

Panel to press for answers on who approved throttling of military communications

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX [Reuters via Yonhap]
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX [Reuters via Yonhap]

Democrats, fresh off their midterm election victories, have signaled an investigation into the controversy over restrictions placed on military satellite communications used by Ukraine. With conflicting accounts from Elon Musk and the White House over who ordered the service cutoffs, Democratic senators are demanding the preservation of relevant records and a full accounting of how the decision was made.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a letter that Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Coons sent to Musk, the owner of SpaceX.

The two senators said Starshield service restrictions that occurred from Oct. 13 to Oct. 24 and again on Thursday disrupted Ukrainian military operations. Starshield is the military version of Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service.

Ukraine has relied on satellite communications since Russia's invasion destroyed much of its ground-based network infrastructure. The service underpins drone operations, precision strikes, command-and-control functions, and battlefield intelligence sharing. In their letter, the senators said Russia launched roughly 4,000 airstrikes against Ukraine during last month's service disruption period.

At the heart of the controversy is who authorized the service restrictions. Musk has said that limitations on military Starshield are ultimately decided by US military authorities and the president. Donald Trump, however, denied any involvement and suggested Musk was not responsible either. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also shrugged off claims that the White House ordered the communications blackout, calling them "completely false."

The two senators said the conflicting accounts raise serious questions about SpaceX's control over national security communications networks. They called for disclosure of who outside SpaceX approved the throttling and warned that similar vulnerabilities may exist in other systems the US government relies on.

The records preservation demand covers Starlink and Starshield service-related documents and communications inside Ukraine dating back to Sept. 1, as well as materials exchanged between Musk and SpaceX executives and the White House and the US Department of Defense. The senators asked for confirmation of compliance with the preservation request and responses to specific questions by Nov. 30.

Having secured majorities in both chambers of Congress, Democrats plan to pursue investigations into executives at companies with close ties to the Trump administration. House Democratic leadership has also identified as a priority an investigation into the work Musk performed at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, in the early days of the Trump administration's second term.


forest@heraldcorp.com