Elon Musk should be investigated for his alleged ties to Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin, two senior Democrat senators.
Reuters obtained a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon’s Inspector General by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Foreign Relations Committee member, and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Jack Reed
“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” the senators said in the letter.
“Mr. Musk’s reported behavior could pose serious risks to national security, and as CEO of a company with billions of dollars in sensitive defense and intelligence contracts, warrant reconsideration of SpaceX’s outsized role in (the Department of Defense’s) commercial space integration.”
Before the election it was alleged in The Wall Street Journal that Musk had been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin and other members of the Russian regime since 2022.
The WSJ reported Musk has had multiple conversations with Russian officials including Putin and his first deputy chief of staff Sergei Kiriyenko. The Journal cited unnamed US, European and Russian officials.
Musk’s company SpaceX now dominates the US space industry and is leaned on heavily by both NASA and the Pentagon.
Starlink’s network of 7,000 satellites has made SpaceX the world’s biggest satellite operator. The Pentagon makes extensive use of Starlink satellites, and they’ve been used by Ukrainian forces in the war against Russia.
Senators Shaheen and Reed argue in their letter that there should be more competition in the satellite industry and the US government should place contracts with companies other than SpaceX.