Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) called Sunday for a congressional investigation into a slowdown of the Starlink satellite network that Ukrainian forces rely on for communications and drone operations, saying the lack of a clear explanation from the administration is unacceptable.
Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Turner was asked about the episode after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the previous night that no one in the White House ordered Starlink’s speeds reduced. “We had nothing to do with it,” Rubio said. “I don’t- I don’t- the United States, nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened. But my understanding is it’s been restored.”
Host Margaret Brennan pressed Turner on whether that explanation was good enough for him and his colleagues on the Armed Services Committee.
“Absolutely not. I mean, this is something where there needs to be an investigation. There needs to be a congressional investigation,” Turner said.
Turner drew a comparison to past episodes in which military support for Ukraine has been disrupted without clear accountability. “I mean, this is one of those things where- where we see that- that policies occur where sometimes there’s- there’s breaks in- in weapon systems that are supposed to be sent to Ukraine that doesn’t happen, where monies are- are- don’t arrive, where intelligence gets broken, where then later that we have- find, you know, unnamed people in the Pentagon perhaps break it,” he said. “There needs to be an investigation. We need to find out who these people are because lives are at risk and lives are lost over these things.”
Turner noted that even as of Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were reporting that Starlink service in Ukraine remained spotty in places, despite Rubio’s statement that it had been restored. “There are areas where that it’s restored, and there are areas where perhaps it is not,” Turner said. “People’s lives are at risk, and this- this is within Ukraine. This is areas where they’re trying to defend themselves.”
Brennan noted that Starlink is a commercial service owned by Elon Musk, who has publicly opposed Zelenskyy and has said he does not want Starlink used for offensive military action. Turner responded that the relevant use is defensive. “But this is within Ukraine. This is defending Ukraine against aggression within Ukraine,” he said.
Brennan pushed back that responsibility for the outage remained unclear, with the Pentagon and Musk’s company each pointing elsewhere. “It just sort of happened,” she said.
Turner argued that a government policy already governs the arrangement through Starshield, the military-contracted version of the satellite network. “The policy decision has been made that- that Starshield will be utilized for the purposes of Ukraine defending itself against Russian aggression,” he said, referring to what Brennan identified as the U.S. military contract. “Within its territory, and it has, by everybody’s reports, been broken in- in its ability to be able to be accessed. And there should be an investigation as to why, and it should be completely restored.”
