This gives the company an advantage in tracking objects in orbit, raising national security concerns and fears of greater control over the space industry The US military has given Elon Musk’s SpaceX access to restricted space tracking data, raising a new round of questions about whether the Trump administration is attempting to hand over…
Page F127From§Eachthe evening edition — 25 October 2026
THE CONFESSED THROTTLE
Senators from both parties demand Starlink testimony; Pentagon expands its contract instead.
As it ran on the front
On October 14, Ukraine's Starlink access dropped overnight, and Ukrainian officials told the New York Times they suspected the order had come from Washington. That day, Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, asked Elon Musk directly to explain it, hoping aloud it was an accident.
On October 18, Representative Mike Turner used his appearance on Face the Nation to call the slowdown worthy of "a congressional investigation." Secretary of State Marco Rubio had already said "nobody" in the government had ordered it — one denial, standing in for the confession that hadn't arrived yet.…
…(cont) It arrived October 20. The Wall Street Journal reported, through The Hill, that the order Musk had pointed at Washington was his own. The throttle had slowed Ukrainian drones, aircraft, and helicopters at war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a second account that same day: a possible breach of Starshield's "terms of service" — a second excuse, with no name on it to defend under oath. Senate Democrats asked for that oath on October 21.
The Daily Caller reported the "loophole" he meant had been "closed last week," dating his own order to the week he had blamed on Washington.
The same day, two senators who agree on little else agreed on this. Tillis called for "guardrails and accountability." Schiff called for Hegseth to testify before the Senate. Representative Jason Crow called Musk's control over Ukraine's communications "beyond disturbing." And the Pentagon, the Guardian reported, had just handed SpaceX access to restricted space-tracking data — an expansion of the same contract, delivered into the same week the senators spent asking who would answer for the last one.
The tool for this already exists, built and sitting idle: a defense secretary can be made to testify, under oath, about a sole-source contractor's conduct, whenever a committee votes to call him in. Tillis and Schiff don't need a new law. They need a hearing date on the calendar.
“Musk blamed the government for cutting Ukraine's signal, then admitted he did it himself, then called the country evil for defending itself — and the Pentagon handed him a bigger contract instead of a subpoena. That's not a gap in oversight, that's a kill switch wired straight to the money. Tillis and Schiff agree on exactly one thing this week: Hegseth owes the Senate an answer under oath, and the hearing date is still blank.”
“It's a private company, Secretary Hegseth can't dictate terms of service to a private company — though I suppose someone could ask why that private company is also the sole contractor the Pentagon just handed more tracking data. The "evil warmongers" line was a tweet, and you can't hold a federal contract hostage over a tweet, can you — actually, don't answer that, that's not what I meant to open with.”
Earlier in this story
- Musk confesses to the blackout he blamed on Washington, Pentagon rewards him with more satellite tracking data By The Wrecking Crew · the afternoon edition, 25 October 2026
- Musk ends week of blaming Washington for the blackout, admits he ordered it, service restored same day. By Mort · the morning edition, 25 October 2026
- Musk admits the throttle he blamed on Washington was his own, the same day service was restored. By Mort · the evening edition, 24 October 2026
- Musk blamed Washington for the Starlink slowdown he ordered, then restored it the day the public noticed. By Mort · the morning edition, 24 October 2026
- Sixth officer charged with misusing Flock cameras since the bill to defund them reached committee. By The Wrecking Crew · the afternoon edition, 23 October 2026
- Trump's fourth fuel rescue of the fall ships via tanker that arrives after Americans already voted By Ruth · the morning edition, 23 October 2026
The receipts
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having the ability to cut off Starlink access to Ukraine is "beyond disturbing to me." "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan asked Crow about satellite services provided by SpaceX being fully restored in Ukraine after Musk on Saturday alluded that he slowed down...
"Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be," Musk tweeted Saturday.
‘That loophole was closed last week’
After Elon Musk's SpaceX temporarily throttled Starlink satellite communication system in Ukraine, Sen. Thom Tillis joined the growing number of Republican lawmakers speaking out against it. "I get it's a private company, but they're playing into military space, geopolitical space," Tillis said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to testify before the Senate over Starlink’s slowdown to its satellite service in Ukraine, which disrupted the country’s military capabilities. On NBC News's “Meet the Press”
· Throttling of Ukraine's Starlink Access Heightens Concerns Over Government Reliance on Elon Musk from the morgue, 14 Oct 2026
· GOP Sen. Tillis asks Musk to explain Ukraine losing access to Starlink from the morgue, 14 Oct 2026
· Rep. Turner calls for congressional probe into Starlink slowdown that disrupted Ukraine drones from the morgue, 18 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.