Musk’s control over US defense criticised after latest Ukraine Starlink development

In the latest development in the ongoing controversy and back-and-forth over Starlink access in Ukraine, it’s now been reported by The Wall Street Journal that US president Donald Trump called SpaceX founder Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on the internet service.

In case you missed it, The Telegraph reported last week (16 October) that Musk suggested to Trump that Starlink should be slowed down in the war-torn country, the same day that Reuters reported the order to limit Starshield – the military version of Starlink – was given from inside the White House.

Yet Trump, before travelling to Georgia for a rally, told reporters: “I don’t know if it was anyone, because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon.”

Two days prior, on 14 October, Musk took to X/Twitter and wrote that Starshield is “owned and controlled by the US government”.

“Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS. Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

Then on Wednesday (21 October), Musk was condemned when the WSJ claimed it was him who issued the order to slow down Starlink, according to US officials and people familiar with the matter.

The outlet states Musk limited the speeds last week, and that both Musk and Trump discussed the decision around Starlink “in a call soon after the slowdown became public”.

But now, it’s reported that Trump called Musk on Wednesday asking him to lift the restrictions, according to US officials – a day before “the system was working more normally”.

The US officials state – via the WSJ – that the president told the billionaire he was “frustrated the system’s speeds remained capped at around 100 miles an hour”.

When Trump was asked about this on Thursday, and whether he told Musk to restore Starlink access in Ukraine, he replied: “I don’t want to say, but I know it was a very interesting situation, so I don’t want to comment one way or the other.

“Whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn’t make a difference, I guess. The bottom line: he put it back.”

And while all of this is going on, a Ukraine official told the WSJ: “We keep waiting for the information and clarification from the American side about the situation. There is no response yet.”

The latest development has seen X/Twitter users express concern over the influence Musk has on government policy, with Angry Staffer asking: “Why does Musk have operational control over any *military grade* version of anything?”:

Broadcaster Piers Morgan mentioned Musk directly and said: “Is this true @elonmusk – and if so, why did you slow it down?”:

Garry Kasparov, founder of Renew Democracy, asked: “Who is running America’s defense policy?”:

One account commented: “Why does The President of the United States have to call and "ask" the CEO of a private company to restore a system used by the US military?”:

And former British soldier and Ukrainian marine Shaun Pinner said: “This is getting worse by the minute, a private individual can effectively dictate aspects of American foreign policy through control of technology on which Ukraine depends”:

indy100 has approached both SpaceX and the White House for comment.

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