Tesla CEO Elon Musk shows up for a U.S. Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.,Sept 13, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds|AFP|Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Three Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services have actually asked the Pentagon for details about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and whether he “directed the unilateral disabling or impediment of function of Starlink satellite communications terminals used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Ukraine in 2022,” or ever had the authority to do so.
DemocraticSens Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois composed a letter Friday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reveal their “serious concerns about whether Musk has personally intervened to undermine a key U.S. partner at a critical juncture.”
Their concerns follow the publication of a bio of Elon Musk, who is CEO of SpaceX and car manufacturer Tesla, and owner and primary innovation officer of the social media X, previously calledTwitter In the book, author Walter Isaacson composed that a Ukrainian drone submarine attack on Russian warships was interfered with by a detach from Starlink, bought by Musk.
Excerpts from the book raised alarm bells in Washington, amongst NATO allies and in the Ukrainian capital. After they were released, Musk painted himself as a peacekeeper and composed on social networks that he did not detach Starlink over Crimea, however rather rejected a demand by Ukraine to supply it there. He composed, “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” Isaacson has actually released a correction to his bio mentioning that connection had actually currently been disabled in the afflicted location, which Musk had actually merely declined a demand to turn it on.
Musk also argued, as he has in the past, that Ukraine must strike a “truce” withRussia Musk’s “peace plan” argument was yelled down by Ukraine authorities, political leaders and Putin specialists.
On Tuesday, in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Isaacson gone over SpaceX establishing a military-grade variation of Starlink, which would assist deal with issues revealed by Musk relating to the satellite networks’ usage in war.
CNBC asked the U.S. Department of Defense a number of concerns relating to SpaceX, consisting of whether the department would be re-evaluating any of the business’s federal government agreements, whether Musk’s requires a truce in between Ukraine and Russia show the U.S. federal government’s position and whether Musk’s conduct, consisting of taking individual conferences with Putin in the past, had actually remained in line with the regards to agreements granted to his business.
A representative for the department, Jeff Jurgensen, informed CNBC by means of e-mail, “The Department does contract with Starlink for satellite communication services in support of our Ukrainian partners,” however decreased to provide more information or address the particular concerns postured.
He included that the Department of Defense “continues to work closely with commercial industry to ensure we have the right capabilities the Ukrainians need to defend themselves — and more broadly — the kind of communication and space-related capabilities necessary to accomplish our own global missions and support our national defense strategy.”
Earlier in the week,Sen Warren required a Congressional probe of Musk and SpaceX. “Congress needs to investigate what’s happened here, and whether we have adequate tools to make sure foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire,” Warren stated Monday, Bloomberg initially reported.
SpaceX is presently working to get a brand-new license from the Federal Aviation Administration and approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to resume test flights for its Starship Super Heavy launch automobile from its Boca Chica, Texas, center. An earlier test flight this year led to a surge and an incident examination managed and just recently finished by the FAA.
The business prepares to utilize Starship to release and release its next generation Starlink satellites. Musk likewise pictures Starship taking astronauts and products to the moon, and ultimately, Mars.
Read the complete letter here.
