US Senators Urge Musk to Preserve Documents on Restrictions for Ukraine
Two Democratic US senators have urged SpaceX chief Elon Musk to preserve all documents related to restrictions placed on Ukraine's use of the Starlink and Starshield satellite communication services. The letter was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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Democratic US Senate members Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Chris Coons of Delaware have sent a letter to Elon Musk, head of the space and satellite communications company SpaceX, asking him to preserve all documents tied to restrictions on Ukraine's use of the Starlink and Starshield satellite communication services. The letter was reported by the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal. The matter is significant because the restrictions affect communications that Ukraine uses in its war against Russia and, in the senators' view, may point to vulnerabilities even in systems relied on by the US government.
What the letter says
The letter lists service disruptions between 13 and 24 October, as well as on 12 November. The senators write that the restrictions raise alarming suspicions that vulnerabilities exist even in systems the US government depends on. They voice serious concern over SpaceX's control of communication channels that are important to national security, and criticize the lack of transparency in how such decisions are made.
The senators ask Musk to state whether anyone outside SpaceX authorized the restrictions. The letter also demands a broad set of documents dating from 1 September: all reports on the use of Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine, as well as correspondence between Musk, SpaceX management, the White House and the Pentagon.
Political context
Following their victory in the midterm elections on 3 November, Democrats plan to launch several investigations into the administration's conduct in relation to Russia's war against Ukraine. Coons is expected to become chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Senate. Shaheen is currently the committee's ranking Democrat but will leave the Senate in January.
Earlier, 105 members of the US House of Representatives' bipartisan group supporting Ukraine demanded that Donald Trump's administration and SpaceX restore Ukraine's full access to the Starshield system, citing reports of new restrictions.
