An image of Starlink on a mobile device is shown with Ukraine on a map in the background in this illustration in Warsaw, Poland on September 21, 2022.
STR | norphoto | Getty Images
House Democrats Robert Garcia, Democrat of California. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, sent a letter to SpaceX demanding transparency from the defense contractor after reports of possible illegal purchases and Russia's use of Starlink satellite internet equipment in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The members of Congress also announced a Democratic House committee investigating SpaceX over the company's safeguards and procedures to prevent illegal exports and use of its Starlink equipment and services. The Washington Post first reported on the probe and a March 6 letter to SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwen Shotwell.
Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, enjoyed accolades for supplying Starlink terminals and satellite internet service during the early days of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while Western governments and NGOs worked to supply Kiev with vital air defense systems and assistance.
Later, Musk said: “Starlink was not meant to engage in wars. The goal was for people to be able to watch Netflix, relax, get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes,” according to the tech mogul's authorized biography. By Walter Isaacson.
The book also stated that Musk ordered SpaceX engineers to shut down Starlink's satellite network over Crimea to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships.
When the book was published in 2023, that information – the accuracy of which Musk denied – angered Ukrainian officials including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Kiev's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said in February that there was growing evidence of Russian forces using Starlink in Ukraine's partially occupied eastern Donetsk region.
In a statement issued Thursday, the lawmakers wrote: “Russia’s use of Starlink satellite terminals would be a violation of U.S. export controls that prohibit Russia from obtaining and using technology produced in the United States.”
House Democrats aren't the only elected officials demanding more transparency from SpaceX and how the company controls its vast global space communications network.
In February, the bipartisan House China Committee and its leader, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., sent a letter to Elon Musk requesting that U.S. forces stationed in Taiwan have access to SpaceX's Starshield, a satellite communications network designed specifically for the military. In his letter, Gallagher said the lack of access could violate contractual obligations between SpaceX and the Department of Defense.
“SpaceX is fully compliant with all of its contracts with the US government,” the company said at the time in an email to CNBC.
The company did not respond before publication to a request for comment on the new investigation regarding the possible use of Starlink by Russia in occupied parts of Ukraine.
The new investigation by House Democrats comes on the heels of news Wednesday that a man was arrested in New Jersey on charges of trafficking 675 SpaceX Starlink terminals that were purchased with stolen credit card accounts or compromised Starlink billing accounts.
Police told CNBC that, in cooperation with SpaceX, they are still investigating human trafficking and exactly how the purchases were made. It's not clear where all the equipment that enables Starlink's high-speed satellite Internet service was eventually attached.
Read the full letter to SpaceX:
