Reported speed cap followed anger over Ukrainian strikes on Russian diesel refineries
Bipartisan lawmakers who support Ukraine are pressing for an investigation and sworn testimony after The Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX chief Elon Musk restricted Ukraine’s access to the company’s satellite-based Starlink network. Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said Congress should call Musk and other witnesses to testify under oath. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California called for a Senate investigation and said Musk should testify under oath.
“We got to investigate,” Fitzpatrick told CNN on Tuesday. He added, “We got to call the witnesses, got to bring them in, put them under oath and get to the bottom of it because this is a very, very serious matter.” Fitzpatrick also said Congress could block funding for any federal agencies or agency heads that played any role in throttling the network.
Schiff said in an X post Tuesday, “National security decisions should be made in our national security interests, and not based on the personal whim of an unstable executive.”
The congressional response also includes a request for an inspector-general review. Bipartisan lawmakers supportive of Ukraine have been seeking information about how and why Starlink slowed down. Last week, Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Cornyn of Texas, along with a few Democratic colleagues, called on the Inspector General of the Department of Defense to investigate whether the Pentagon or its contractors had a role in the reported speed restrictions on Starlink. The Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General said it was in the process of preparing a response.
The Journal reported that Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to Starlink, the satellite-based network, last week. In recent days, Ukraine has been grappling with the slowdown, which the Journal said makes it harder for Kyiv to intercept Russian attacks or launch drone strikes.
The Journal reported that the restriction came after both Musk and President Trump expressed anger at Ukraine for attacking Russian diesel refineries. Musk and Trump also spoke in the hours after the slowdown became public, the Journal reported.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said last week that he was considering subpoenaing Musk or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to testify about the Starlink issue if Democrats win control of the Senate in the midterm elections. On Tuesday, after the Journal reported that Musk ordered the throttling, Coons raised concerns about one individual having control over strategically significant technology.
“We should be asking hard questions about why this one man has the same power of one of our four-star generals in terms of the outcome of a conflict halfway around the world, where our interests are aligned with Ukraine, not with Russia,” Coons said on MSNOW.
Musk said Wednesday on X, “Some fools still think the legacy news is real. Amazing.” It was not immediately clear whether he was referring to the Journal’s report. SpaceX, which operates Starlink, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The congressional response builds on Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s Oct. 20 demand for answers about Starlink disruptions: he had said lawmakers could take punitive budgetary action, while The Wall Street Journal’s report that Musk ordered the throttling prompted calls for an investigation and sworn testimony.