Pentagon Inspector General Declines to Probe $300 Million Starlink Outage in Ukraine
The independent watchdog office ruled that the recent service interruptions in Ukraine are a contractual issue for the Air Force and Space Force to handle.
By Nathaniel Hayes ·
The Pentagon’s inspector general has refused to launch an investigation into recent disruptions of Starlink and Starshield services in Ukraine. In a letter to lawmakers, Platte Moring, the head of the independent watchdog office, stated that his office is not the best entity to answer questions about the technical failures. Moring argued that the interruptions are a contractual matter that falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. Both military services hold authority over the Department of Defense’s agreement with SpaceX for the satellite internet systems.
The decision ends a request made by a bipartisan group of nine senators who sought a formal inquiry. The disruptions occurred in recent weeks while Ukraine faced sustained Russian attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that the limits placed on the satellite networks were a decision made by the U.S. government. U.S. and Ukrainian officials have since reported that both services have returned to normal operating conditions.
Mollie Halpern, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense Inspector General, provided a written statement to ABC News regarding the decision. She noted that the office carefully reviewed the congressional request. Halpern said the office determined the matters were best addressed by the Department of Defense itself. She added that the inspector general may reconsider the decision if new information emerges.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who was part of the group requesting the probe, described the inspector general’s decision as concerning. She cited conflicting accounts from the Trump Administration and SpaceX regarding the cause of the outages. Shaheen argued that the disruptions weakened Ukraine’s defenses and placed American personnel in the country at unnecessary risk. She called for an independent accounting and review to determine responsibility and prevent similar failures in the future.
The path to the decision began when the inspector general initially told the senators to direct their questions to the Defense Department’s under secretary for policy. That office then informed the inspector general that the reported disruptions were a contractual matter. The under secretary’s office recommended that the two military services handle the issue rather than the policy office.
The letter to lawmakers clarified that the inspector general’s office will not take the lead on the investigation. The responsibility for reviewing the contract and the technical failures remains with the Air Force and Space Force. The senators who requested the probe have not yet announced further steps to force an independent review.
