Senate Democrats have opened their own inquiry into the throttling of SpaceX satellite internet service for Ukraine, weeks after the Pentagon’s independent watchdog refused to take the case. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, has been told to preserve every record connected to the slowdowns and to answer the senators’ questions by 30 November, according to blue News.
Key facts
- Democratic senators, who take control of the Senate in January, are demanding SpaceX confirm by 30 November that it will not destroy documents about the restrictions on Starlink and its military version, Starshield (blue News).
- One signatory is Chris Coons, expected to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January (blue News).
- Nine senators, including four Republicans, had asked the Department of Defense inspector general in mid-October to investigate the disruptions, according to ABC News.
- Platte Moring, who leads that watchdog office, declined, calling it a contractual matter better addressed by the US Air Force and US Space Force, per a report carried by Payload Space.
- Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, demanded on 13 November that the restrictions be lifted at once, Anadolu Agency reported.
Starlink and Starshield: what is being throttled
Both services ride the same SpaceX satellites. Starlink is the commercial satellite internet service sold to households and businesses, including across Africa; Starshield is the military version and is controlled by the US government, with the US military’s Starlink contract held by the Air Force and Space Force, according to blue News and Payload Space. Ukraine’s military has used Starlink-based internet for its communications since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and Ukrainian drones fitted with Starlink terminals are flown remotely against targets in the Black Sea and in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, blue News reports.
Why it matters
In Ukraine a consumer product became military infrastructure, contracted for use by the US Defense Department, ABC News reported. The dispute now running through the Senate is about who can slow that network down, and whether anyone outside SpaceX can find out after the fact.
For paying subscribers elsewhere, the restrictions on the record are confined to Starshield and to the Defense Department-contracted terminals inside Ukraine. None of the four outlets reporting the inquiry describes any change to commercial coverage or pricing, which SpaceX sets itself and lists on its own availability map.
What the senators want from SpaceX
blue News reports the senators are asking who ordered the speed throttling for both Starlink and Starshield, which restrictions remain in effect, and whether SpaceX weighed the possible consequences of the throttling for Ukraine’s population and for Americans in the country.
Anadolu Agency reports Shaheen and Tillis went further, calling on Congress to establish who ordered or approved the restrictions and to hold those responsible accountable. The two senators said the Pentagon and SpaceX must hand over the contracts and communications Congress needs, and that safeguards should be put in place so it cannot happen again.
Their joint statement was blunt about the remedy: “The Trump Administration and SpaceX must restore these capabilities immediately,” they wrote, according to Anadolu Agency. The pair questioned how limiting Ukraine’s defensive capabilities fits the Trump administration’s stated effort to negotiate an end to the war.
The watchdog that said no
The October request went to the Pentagon’s inspector general because the senators wanted to know, in their words to the watchdog, whether actions or decisions by the Defense Department or its contractors contributed to the dangerous circumstances in which Starshield was limited, ABC News reported.
That route closed quickly. Payload Space reported the inspector general first suggested the questions go to the Defense Department’s under secretary for policy, and that office then said the disruptions were a contractual matter for the two military services that hold the contract. Shaheen called the decision not to proceed concerning and said there must be an independent accounting and review.
Conflicting accounts of who did it
SpaceX and the US government have issued statements, some of them contradictory, about who was responsible for the throttling, according to blue News, and the conflicting accounts coming out of Washington are a large part of why the senators are demanding documents rather than briefings.
Zelenskyy has said the imposition of limits on the satellite networks was a US government decision, Payload Space reported. President Donald Trump denied it, telling reporters in October: “I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all,” and adding that the infrastructure was probably functional, per ABC News. Separately, Musk’s own explanation for the slowdown was that Kyiv had used the civilian Starlink service for drone attacks in breach of the terms of service.
Two rounds of restrictions
In October, Ukrainian authorities reported restrictions on Starshield speeds lasting more than a week, and Zelenskyy said on 24 October that speeds had been restored, Anadolu Agency reported. ABC News reported that during that episode the limits inhibited Ukraine’s offensive and defensive capabilities in Russia-controlled Ukrainian territory, and that the nine senators were particularly alarmed by incidents in which US diplomatic, military and security personnel could not reach designated bunkers during Russian air raids.
The problem then returned. Anadolu Agency reported that Zelenskyy again reported throttling on the front line and in Russian-controlled territories for several days, and blue News reports the Ukrainian president raised the restrictions once more this week. In their 13 November statement, Shaheen and Tillis said the renewed limits were crippling Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian drones across the front line, just weeks after service was restored.
What happens next
The senators’ 30 November deadline falls before the new Congress convenes. Democrats will keep their majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the next Congress and are already preparing investigations into the Trump administration, according to blue News.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the Pentagon inspector general still open an investigation later?
Yes. Mollie Halpern, spokesperson for the Department of Defense Inspector General, said the office carefully considered the congressional request and decided the matters were best addressed by the Department, adding that it may reconsider should new information come to light, according to the report carried by Payload Space.
Was US intelligence sharing with Ukraine cut off during the October disruptions?
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian military officials were told by US counterparts that there would be consequences for not halting long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries, including a suspension of intelligence sharing, ABC News reported. A western official with knowledge of the arrangement said on the Thursday of that week that sharing had returned and was continuing as normal.
Do the senators’ demands cover commercial Starlink customers outside Ukraine?
No. The questions put to SpaceX concern the Ukraine restrictions on Starlink and Starshield, the records behind them and who ordered them, per blue News. Consumer plans, prices and country coverage are set and published by SpaceX itself, address by address, on its own availability map.
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