Worried that the whims of a billionaire could at some point in the future cut off important civil functions needed to undertake a military operation, the Senate Armed Services Committee is opening up a probe into Elon Musk’s unilateral decision to suspend Starlink internet service to Ukraine because Kyiv was using it to attack the Russian fleet, Bloomberg reports.
At first, Musk claimed that he did it because he feared Russia would have retaliated using nuclear weapons. Then he claimed that allowing the system to be used for military operations would draw the parent company, SpaceX, into the war as a potential target. Musk contacted the Russian ambassador to seek his counsel, apparently tipping off the Kremlin.
“The committee is aggressively probing this issue from every angle,” Chairman Jack Reed said, adding, “Neither Elon Musk, nor any private citizen, can have the last word when it comes to U.S. national security.”