- United States
- N.D.
- Letter
Investigate Elon Musk's personal decision to slow down military-grade Starlink service to Ukraine and pass legislation that severs government dependence on billionaire-controlled private companies. According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk ordered the speed cap himself, starting October 14, over the objections of U.S. officials who say Trump never authorized it. Ukrainian officials say the restriction let Russian missiles slip past their air defenses. That is not a policy dispute. That is one private citizen making a battlefield decision that cost lives.
Musk then posted on X that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS," a claim The Journal's reporting directly contradicts. SpaceX reportedly reached out to White House counterparts afterward to coordinate a cover story. This is the same pattern we saw with the USAID shutdown: a billionaire makes a sweeping decision affecting millions, and the government scrambles to catch up or cover it up.
No private individual should have this kind of leverage over U.S. foreign policy or the survival of an allied nation. Strong penalties for this conduct and strict limits on government entanglement with billionaire-owned companies are long overdue. I expect action.