A group of House Democrats representing Silicon Valley asked Susie Wiles on Friday to open a broad review of Starlink disruptions in Ukraine. The letter, shared only with CNBC, was organized by California Democrats Sam Liccardo, Ro Khanna and Jimmy Panetta.
They requested an immediate, government-wide investigation into why SpaceX's Starshield - a satellite service designed for defense and intelligence uses - was restricted in Ukraine. The lawmakers also wrote that, despite lives lost and serious national security stakes, the administration and SpaceX alike have yet to offer a consistent explanation of who was responsible.
Starshield access in Ukraine was curtailed for a time, which reduced the country's military capacity. Ukrainian officials told CNN on Friday the limits were still in place, contradicting President Donald Trump's statement a day earlier that Elon Musk had restored access.
According to those officials, the limits hindered high-speed military drones, undercutting Ukraine's capacity to intercept Russian attacks and to run operations at the front. Ukrainian forces rely on Starshield to support military activity during a Russian invasion that began more than four years ago.
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The lawmakers told Wiles they want to know who made the call to restrict Starshield and to identify anyone who authorized, directed, approved or was consulted on the move. They also asked how the curbs were implemented, whether federal contracts were breached and if similar weak points exist elsewhere.
They framed the central question plainly: they posed a stark choice: a private vendor either made life and death calls on national security, or President Trump directed constraints on critical communications for a U.S. ally. If Democrats win the House on Nov. 3, the letter says they will make this probe a top priority and ensure the 120th Congress closely reviews federal money going to Musk's businesses, including contract compliance and protections against political meddling, capricious service cutbacks, and the misuse of federal resources. As they put it, Silicon Valley's representatives say the region's employers and workers depend on the credibility of American tech abroad, and politically driven outages or erratic throttling would damage reputations built over decades.
Asked about the letter, the White House on Friday pointed CNBC to Trump's comments from the day before. Trump declined to say whether he called Musk about the limits, telling reporters, "Whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn't make any difference." He added, "The bottom line, he put it back," referring to Musk and Starshield.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Musk initiated the restrictions, and later reported they were lifted after Trump and Musk spoke by phone. Trump has repeatedly denied ordering a Starlink disruption, even as Musk has publicly said such an order would have originated from the White House. CNBC did not receive a comment from SpaceX in response to its request. Separately, Democrats are widely expected to scrutinize private contractors to the government if they gain control of Congress, which would provide committee-level subpoena power.
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