GOP senators press Pentagon over Ukraine’s loss of Starshield data
GOP senators press Pentagon over Ukraine’s loss of Starshield data
Alexander Bolton Fri, October 16, 2026 at 3:36 PM UTC
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Four Republican senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in pressing the Trump administration for information about whether Pentagon officials ordered restrictions on Ukraine’s access to the satellite-based Starshield network, which Ukrainian officials said limited their ability to intercept Russian drones.
Ukraine needs access to fast Starshield data speeds to operate drones along with fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, which are critical to its national defense.
Ukraine’s full access to Starshield-provided data was quickly restored Wednesday, prompting speculation on Capitol Hill that President Trump didn’t make the call to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine but that the decision may have come from senior officials.
Four Republican senators — including two senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee — signed a bipartisan letter to Platte Moring, the Pentagon’s inspector general, demanding he investigate whether any Department of Defense (DOD) or other U.S. government officials “directed” or “authorized” changes to intelligence-sharing arrangements or Starlink and Starshield services affecting Ukraine.
Starshield is the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink, which provides internet connectivity from low-orbit satellites.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), a senior member of the Intelligence Committee, signed the letter, along with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another member of the Intelligence panel, and Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).
The GOP lawmakers expressed “grave concern” over reports that Ukraine lost access to high-speed internet connectivity enabling it to operate military vehicles flying faster than 63 mph or faster than 100 mph, hampering its ability to fend off Russian strikes.
“We urgently request an Inspector General investigation into these incidents, including whether actions or decisions by the Department of Defense or its contractors contributed to these dangerous circumstances,” the senators wrote.
Tillis is not running for reelection, while Cornyn lost a primary after the president backed his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Collins is in a tough reelection race in a state Trump has lost in three consecutive presidential elections, while Murkowski is known for breaking with the president on various issues.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spearheaded the letter.
Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Chris Coons (Del.) and Jack Reed (R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also signed it.
A Senate source familiar with internal discussions about how to respond to Ukraine’s sudden loss of access to critical military intelligence said senators in both parties have questions about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or other senior defense officials — such as Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy — were involved in the decision.
Lawmakers blamed Hegseth and Colby, the No. 3-ranking Pentagon official, last year for repeatedly holding up shipments of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine.
Tillis, a leading advocate of U.S. military support for Ukraine, first called on the Pentagon's inspector general Wednesday evening to investigate the matter.
He expressed skepticism that Hegseth would answer senators’ questions about the Starshield outage if called to testify on Capitol Hill.
“The latest reporting suggests this strategic snafu may have occurred more locally within DOD Starshield systems, not with Starlink or SpaceX,” Tillis wrote on social media Wednesday.
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“I’m not holding my breath for Defense Secretary Hegseth to offer transparency, so we’ll be asking the DOD Inspector General to initiate an investigation and report back to Congress and the American People,” he said.
“At best, this was an unacceptable error or lapse," Tillis fumed, saying that at worst it was a conscious "decision to clear the field for a Russian attack."
John Ullyot, a former spokesperson for the Senate Armed Services Committee and former deputy assistant to Trump, said senators have good reason to question senior Pentagon officials for answers about the Starshield outage.
“Hegseth reportedly cut off weapons to Ukraine without the President's sign-off three times in his first six months on the job, so it's not surprising senators want to know if he was involved here as well,” Ullyot said.
“Either way, Republicans shouldn't have to be dealing with these distractions from DoD less than three weeks before the midterms," he added.
Senators who support continued U.S. military aid to Ukraine believe Hegseth’s office ordered a temporary halt to military aid flights to Ukraine in early February 2025 without notifying the White House.
The halt to air traffic reportedly impacted nearly a dozen shipments of artillery shells and weapons from Dover Air Force Base and a base in the United Arab Emirates.
Hegseth was accused of unilaterally delaying military aid to Ukraine again in May and July of last year.
The Pentagon said in July 2025 that it delayed weapons shipments to Ukraine because of a concern over low stockpiles, but lawmakers at the time rejected that rationale.
Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, at the time argued that the Pentagon’s stockpile of weapons and ammunition wasn’t any lower than it had been in the previous 3 1/2 years of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Republican national security insiders think that if senior DOD officials ordered a limitation on Ukraine’s access to Starshield and other critical intelligence sharing, they may have acted without Trump’s explicit knowledge or approval.
Suspicion on Capitol Hill over whether Hegseth, Colby or other senior Pentagon officials played a role in limiting Ukraine’s access to Starshield gained momentum Wednesday after Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, which owns and operates Starlink, pointed the finger at the Pentagon.
Musk wrote on X, the social media platform which he also owns, that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government” and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately” the president of the United States.
Ukraine’s access to Starshield was quickly restored after the disruptions to high-speed data attracted media scrutiny and criticism from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called the loss of access to Starshield a “big mistake.”
“People will die, of course, if attacks will continue and if Starlink will not work … it’s not helpful,” he warned.
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