Starlink photo is displayed on a mobile device with Ukraine on a map in the background in this still photo in Warsaw, Poland on September 21, 2022.
STR | Nurphoto | Getty Images
House Democrats Robert Garcia, D-Calif. and Jamie Raskin, D-Md, sent a letter to SpaceX demanding transparency from the defense contractor following reports of possible illegal purchases and use of Starlink satellite internet equipment by Russia in occupied Ukrainian territory.
The MPs also announced a House Democratic Committee investigation of SpaceX into the company’s safeguards and procedures to prevent illegal export and use of Starlink equipment and services; The Washington Post reported for the first time about the investigation and the March 6 letter to SpaceX president and CEO Gwynne Shotwell.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk was praised for providing Starlink terminals and satellite Internet service in the early days of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while Western governments and non-governmental organizations worked to supply Kiev with air defense systems and critical assistance.
Later, Musk said, “Starlink wasn’t meant to be involved in wars. It was for people to be able to watch Netflix and relax and go online for school and do good things peacefully, not drone attacks,” according to with an authorized biography of the tech mogul. by Walter Isaacson.
The book also said Musk had ordered SpaceX engineers to shut down the Starlink satellite network over Crimea to prevent a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships.
After the book was published in 2023, this information – the accuracy of which Musk has denied – drew the ire of Ukrainian officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Kyiv’s Central Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said in February that there were growing indications of Starlink use by Russian forces in the partially occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
In a statement Thursday, the lawmakers wrote that “Russia’s use of Starlink satellite terminals would be contrary to US export controls that prohibit Russia from acquiring and using US-made technology.”
House Democrats aren’t the only elected officials demanding greater transparency from SpaceX and how the company controls its vast, global satellite communications network.
In February, the bipartisan House China Committee and its leader Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., sent a letter to Elon Musk demanding that U.S. troops stationed in Taiwan have access to SpaceX’s Starshield, a satellite communications network designed specifically for the military. The lack of access could violate contractual obligations between SpaceX and the Department of Defense, Gallagher said in his letter.
The company said in an email to CNBC at the time, “SpaceX is in full compliance with all US government contracts.”
The company did not respond before publication to a request for comment on the new investigation into Russia’s possible use of Starlink in occupied parts of Ukraine.
The new investigation by House Democrats follows news Wednesday that a New Jersey man was arrested on charges of allegedly trafficking 675 SpaceX Starlink terminals purchased with stolen credit card accounts or hacked Starlink billing accounts.
Police told CNBC that, along with SpaceX, they were still investigating the trafficking and exactly how the purchases were made. It’s unclear where all the equipment that enables Starlink’s high-speed satellite Internet service was finally connected.
Read the full letter to SpaceX: