Shaheen, Reed Urge U.S. Departments of Defense and Justice to Investigate Musk’s Involvement in U.S. Government Contracts with SpaceX, Raises Concerns with the Space Force’s Reliance on SpaceX for National Security Activities
(Washington, DC) – Following reports of Elon Musk’s regular contact with Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for the last two years, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, and Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, are calling for the Departments of Justice and Defense to investigate whether this behavior should force a review of Musk’s continued involvement in SpaceX’s contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Intelligence Community (IC). In a letter to U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Shaheen and Reed detail how communications between Russian government officials and an individual with a security clearance put U.S. national security at risk. In a separate letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, the Senators express their concern with U.S. Space Force’s overreliance on SpaceX for national security space activities and importance of competition on space acquisition to remain access to these critical capabilities in the event of a crisis or conflict. They assert that these reports raise questions regarding DOD’s and IC’s use of SpaceX satellites for sensitive military operations and underscore DOD’s role in encouraging competition in the commercial space industry to avoid overreliance on a single provider.
In their letter to DOD and DOJ, the Senators wrote: “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. […] We urge an immediate review into this reporting to ascertain whether Mr. Musk’s conversation and specific ties to high-level Russian officials warrant an investigation and a determination by the Department of Defense’s senior debarment official whether SpaceX should exclude Mr. Musk’s involvement in any and all U.S. Government contracts.”
Click here for the full letter to Attorney General Garland and Inspector General Storch.
In their letter to the Air Force, the Senators wrote: “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 DoD’s commercial space integration.”
Click here for the full letter to Air Force Secretary Kendall.
Shaheen is a top member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees. The Senator is Chair of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which funds the U.S. Department of Justice. Last year, Shaheen led her colleagues in a letter urging U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to request information regarding the reported incident that Elon Musk restricted the use of Starlink satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) in southern Ukraine in 2022.
In addition to leading the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Reed is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Last year Reed stated: “Neither Elon Musk, nor any private citizen, can have the last word when it comes to US national security.”
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