The U.S. Government Can’t Allow Elon Musk the Power to Intervene in Wars

Elon Musk’s company SpaceX is a U.S. defense contractor, with billions of dollars in Pentagon contracts. That makes his intervention to thwart Ukrainian military operations a U.S. national security concern, not only because America supports Ukraine’s self-defense against Russia’s invasion, but also because it suggests the U.S. military may have left itself open to similar disruptions.

Excerpts from biographer Walter Isaacson’s book, Elon Musk, show Musk denying Ukraine Starlink internet access off the coast of Crimea in Sept. 2022, causing Ukrainian sea drones to stop functioning. A private citizen thwarting an in-progress military operation like this is unprecedented.

As Isaacson presents Musk, the billionaire thinks of himself as a superhero trying to save the world. When Russia first invaded, this led him to donate Starlink terminals and services to Ukraine. SpaceX was able to handle Russian cyberattacks and jamming that had cut off Ukraine’s previous provider, Viasat, and the Ukrainian military found it useful as they fought off Russia’s original assault.

Read more at The Daily Beast.