On Friday, Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressing fears about the contents of a biography of Elon Musk. It detailed the fact that SpaceX had disconnected service to the Ukrainian military prior to an attack, leading to alarm in Washington, NATO nations and Kyiv. CNBC asked the DoD multiple questions about SpaceX in relation to this.
The three Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services - Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois - have sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to voice their worries over whether Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and automaker Tesla, and owner of the former Twitter, had intervened to sabotage assistance given by the US to Ukraine.
This follows claims in Walter Isaacson's recently published biography of Musk, in which he wrote that a disconnect of Starlink initiated by Musk had disrupted a Ukrainian drone submarine attack against Russian warships. Musk has since protested that he denied a request by Ukraine to provide it there, with the intention of maintaining peace.
Isaacson has since corrected his writing to specify that connections had already been cut off in the area, and Musk had only declined to re-instate them. He further argued that Ukraine and Russia should make a cease-fire agreement. However, the suggestion was not accepted by Ukrainian politicians and Putin experts.
The Department of Defense have offered limited details in response to questions from CNBC, confirming that they contract with Starlink to supply satellite communication services in support of Ukraine, but declining to answer more detailed questions.
Following the incident, Sen. Warren has called for a Congressional investigation into the matter, asking whether the US has adequate means to ensure foreign policy is conducted only through the government, and not by any single billionaire.
SpaceX is presently seeking to secure a new permit from the Federal Aviation Administration and endorsements from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to resume test flights for its Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle at its Boca Chica, Texas, facility. Earlier this year, a test flight resulted in an explosion that was investigated by the FAA and the inquiry has now been finalized. The company has plans to utilize Starship to launch and deploy its upcoming Starlink satellites. Musk looks towards Starship to take astronauts and supplies to the moon, and in the end, Mars. Check out the full letter here.
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