SpaceX Boosts the A.I. Rally

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Andrew here. We’ve got all of the news about a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger below, but let’s get into the report everyone is talking about: Did Elon Musk throttle Ukraine’s access to the Starshield service run by Starlink, as The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday? Or did the Trump administration?

When Ukraine made the accusation last week, Musk seemingly suggested that any such decision was made by the White House: “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government,” he wrote on social media. “Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”

That was repeatedly quoted, but the post also said: “Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

What Musk is effectively saying is that any customer — including Ukraine — using Starlink for offensive military purposes could have its access restricted. In war, it’s often unclear where defense ends and offense begins. (That said, Starshield, which Ukraine has been using, is meant for military uses.)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed this argument on Wednesday. Starlink, he said: is “not a military system, although it could be used in order to guide drones and things of this nature and so forth. And then Starshield is different. It’s a unique defense product that is sold and operated through the Department of War, as an example. It’s two different items and it’s important to distinguish one from the other.”

Of course, this raises a broader question: Should a single private citizen wield such disproportionate geopolitical leverage? Right now, there is no competition for this service. I’ll be speaking with Musk next month at the DealBook Summit. In the meantime, watch this space: If Democrats take the House, and possibly the Senate, expect lots of hearings on this topic.

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