Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warned of an “enormous” risk to the United States if SpaceX founder Elon Musk interfered with the speed of the Starshield communications system used by Ukraine.
Warren told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that if Musk were responsible for the lapse in service for Ukraine’s use of the military version of his Starlink satellite network developed by SpaceX under contract with the War Department, it should be taken as a warning sign for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term.
“If it is one man, Elon Musk, who is dictating our foreign policy, then he puts the United States at enormous risk,” Warren said. “He’s the one who decides whether or not Ukraine, out there fighting on the front lines to protect its democracy, lives or dies? No, we should not have one man in that position.”
The senior senator also pointed her frustration at Trump, using the possibility that the president was behind the Starshield mishap to raise the stakes in the midterm elections.
“If Donald Trump is the one who made this decision, then I will just say that’s one more reason we need a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate, so that we can actually put some constraints on Donald Trump, so that we can investigate and get to the bottom of this,” she said. “Two more years of an unconstrained Donald Trump and two more years of an Elon Musk who does whatever he wants to do — it’s going to be an America that’s going to have a hard time surviving.”
Ukraine experienced several disruptions with its Starshield satellite network in recent history. The systems are useful tools for the war-torn country to detect and thwart Russian missiles. On three separate occasions in the past week, Ukraine didn’t receive early warnings about missile attacks.
The Wall Street Journal and CBS News each reported that Musk made the call to restrict Ukraine’s use of the satellite system despite his statement that the U.S. government owns and operates Starshield. The former outlet reported Musk and Trump discussed the decision before the restrictions.
Musk’s or Trump’s alleged involvement has led to outrage on both sides of the aisle.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who has been viewed as a critic of Trump, told Collins the Starshield matter should be thoroughly investigated.
“We got to call the witnesses, got to bring them in, put them under oath, and get to the bottom of it because this is a very, very serious matter,” Fitzpatrick said. “It cannot be glossed over. We cannot just move past this. This is a serious, serious issue because lapsing Starshield in that manner costs human lives. There’s got to be consequences to that.”
Speaking specifically about the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, Fitzpatrick said if Musk were involved in such a decision, it would be illegal.
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“When I read it, if it is in fact Mr. Musk that ordered this, that is likely a violation of the law because he has authority and decision-making authority over Starlink, the civilian commercial product, but not Starshield, which is a military-grade national security tool,” he said. “So no civilian, no individual civilian, should have any decision-making authority on how that’s deployed.”
Fitzpatrick added he would put Musk under oath as part of an investigation into what led to the disruption, saying, “You got to interview everybody.”