Rubio Says Washington Didn't Cause Ukraine's Satellite Interruptions. Musk Points the Onus Back at Washington.
Starshield is SpaceX's military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service and, as PBS NewsHour describes it, the backbone of Ukraine's drone operations and communications. When limitations were placed on it last week, Ukrainian commanders reported lost drones and disrupted missions, alarming the country's military and government officials.
Rubio has insisted the Trump administration, and the U.S. government more broadly, had nothing to do with the interruptions to Ukraine's access to crucial satellite data. Hegseth said, “We haven't pulled anything back,” while pointing to “terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to.”
Musk, described by PBS NewsHour as the world's richest man and the leader of the company behind Starlink and Starshield, put the onus on the Trump administration. The government says it never ordered a change; the company's leader says the government carries the onus. That is a tidy way to end up with a mystery instead of a decision.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Each account hands the decision to somebody else, and each could be sincere only if what happened was less a decision than a drift.
Or nothing so atmospheric happened. “Terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to” points at a private company enforcing its own rules — a mechanism, and one that needs no phone call from Washington.