Pentagon inspector general declines to open Starlink investigation

The War Department Office of Inspector General has declined a request from members of Congress to open an investigation into this month’s controversial slowdown of SpaceX platforms used by Ukraine.The decision comes about two weeks after a bipartisan group of senators urged the inspector general to investigate which U.S. officials were responsible for slowdowns in Ukraine’s Starlink and Starshield services, which reduced the nation’s defensive capabilities amid Russian attacks.“The Office of Inspector General carefully considered the congressional request and determined that the matters raised were best addressed by the Department,” Mollie Halpern, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon inspector general, told the Washington Examiner. “Should new information come to light, we may reconsider.” The inspector general is not obligated to investigate every lawmaker’s request unless it is statutorily mandated.Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jack Reed (D-RI), John Cornyn (R-TX), Chris Coons (D-DE), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) signed the letter requesting the investigation.President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Republican donor and SpaceX founder Elon Musk have offered a variety of conflicting statements about who was the final decision-maker behind the slowdown. Musk has denied responsibility and noted that Starshield is a government-run platform, while both Rubio and Hegseth put the onus on the company.Ukraine’s military uses Starlink and the non-commercially available Starshield to communicate quickly and to launch and defend against drone attacks.“It is concerning that the Inspector General has apparently decided not to investigate satellite communication disruptions that Ukraine relies on to protect its civilians,” Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who signed the initial letter, said in a statement to the Associated Press.Shaheen added that the Trump administration and SpaceX “have provided conflicting accounts of what led to those disruptions” and that “there must be an independent accounting and review to determine responsibility and prevent this from happening in the future.”Blumenthal, Coons, Shaheen, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) also sent a letter to SpaceX Vice President of Legal Christopher Cardaci requesting information on what took place. Tangentially related, several Democratic lawmakers have threatened to investigate Musk if they take back power in either the House or Senate during next week’s midterm elections.‘CHANGES THE BALANCE OF LEVERAGE’: ZELENSKY TRIES TO HOLD ON AS TRUMP PRESSURES HIM TO CONCEDEThe incident shows both the downsides of relying on a single product for a key function. It also demonstrates the enormous power that SpaceX, and by extension Musk, wields over the United States and any ally that uses its products.The relationship between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took a downward turn this month, with the Starlink disruptions as just one component. Trump agreed to a deal with Russia to import hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel into the U.S. to reduce energy prices, even though it will aid Russia’s war machine. He also criticized Ukraine for targeting Russian oil sites, blamed their strikes on the spiking prices, and called for Zelensky to resign.