On 22 October, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal tabled a parliamentary question regarding restrictions on Ukraine’s access to Starshield. He sent letters to US Defence Secretary Pete Hagseth and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, demanding to know who authorised and implemented this decision.
Briefly about the main points
- Blumenthal has tabled a question regarding the restrictions on Starshield for Ukraine.
- The letters were received by the Pentagon and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
- The senator is asking for the names of the officials involved in the decision.
- The Pentagon is also being asked about alternatives to SpaceX’s services.
What exactly is the Senate trying to find out?
In letters Blumenthal He is asking whether the changes to the service’s operations were authorised by the White House, the US Department of Defence or SpaceX. The senator also wishes to establish which officials made the decision or were informed of it, and how it was implemented.
A separate issue concerns the Pentagon’s reliance on SpaceX’s satellite services. Blumenthal is asking for clarification as to whether the US Department of Defence has sufficient alternatives should these services become unavailable.
What is the basis for the request?
In his letter, the senator noted that late in the evening of 13 October, Ukrainian forces’ access to Starshield were restricted following the introduction of a speed limit for equipment that remained connected. According to Ukrainian officials cited by Blumenthal, this caused malfunctions in drones and other high-speed platforms, and some missions were cancelled.
On 15 October, Reuters, citing officials, also reported that the restrictions had hampered the use of attack drones and interceptor drones. Starshield is a government-military system developed by SpaceX that utilises the Starlink infrastructure, but is not the same as the Starlink service itself.
Public accounts of who is responsible differ
The instruction to restrict Starshield may have come from the White House, although the agency’s sources did not name the person who made the decision or the person who carried it out. Elon Musk has stated that Starshield is controlled by the US government, and that the parameters of the restrictions are determined by the military or the President.
At the same time, the US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth denied the administration’s involvement. At the same time, Hegset suggested that the decision might have been taken by Starlink. No one has yet been identified as publicly responsible for restricting Ukraine’s access to Starshield.
Blumenthal’s enquiry followed on from a letter dated 15 October from a bipartisan group of senators to the Pentagon’s Inspector General regarding reports of disruptions to Starshield and Starlink services in Ukraine.
