Warren warns of ‘enormous risk’ if Musk is ‘dictating our foreign policy’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) says there needs to be an investigation of who ordered the limit on Ukraine’s access to the Starshield satellite-based internet network and warned there is an “enormous risk” if Elon Musk is “dictating our foreign policy” by deciding what tools Ukraine has on the battlefield.

“We’d like to know exactly who is responsible for what happened,” Warren told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when asked about Ukraine’s loss of access to the satellite network it needs to operate drones and other military craft.

“If it is one man, Elon Musk, who is dictating our foreign policy, then he puts the United States at enormous risk,” Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned.

“He’s the one who decides whether or not Ukraine is out there fighting on the front lines to protect its democracy lives or dies? No, we should not have one man in that position,” she argued.

Warren made her comments after the Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported that Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, which created Starlink and its military-oriented sister company Starshield, ordered a restriction on Ukraine’s data speeds.

The restriction on Ukraine’s access to Starshield hampered its ability to fly drones and other military vehicles to counter Russian drone attacks.

The Journal reported that Musk and Trump discussed the decision to cap Ukraine’s access to Starlink shortly after the internet slowdown became public last week.

“If Donald Trump is the one who made this decision, then I will just say that’s one more reason we need a democratic majority in the House and the Senate so that we can actually put some constraints on Donald Trump, so that we can investigate and get to the bottom of this,” Warren said.

Other Democrats have criticized Musk in the wake of reports that he intervened to limit Ukraine’s ability to operate drones at a time when Russia has escalated strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets.

“Elon Musk shouldn’t have the power to influence the outcome of a war with the flip of a switch. Yet he and Trump seem determined to put their finger on the scale for Putin,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, posted on X.

Musk, in s social media post last week, said that Starshield is operated by the Department of Defense and that Trump ultimately has the authority to decide whether to limit data speeds for Ukraine or other users.

His comment appeared to point the finger at the Pentagon for Ukraine’s loss of Starshield access.

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform, which he owns.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday suggested Musk’s company was responsible, suggesting Ukraine had violated its “terms of service.”

“We haven’t pulled anything back,” Hegseth told reporters of Ukraine’s access to Musk’s satellites. “There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to, and that’s where Starlink has the option to make those decisions.”

A bipartisan group of senators including four Republicans — Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — have asked the Defense Department’s inspector general to investigate if any senior Pentagon officials ordered or had advance knowledge of restrictions on Ukraine’s access to Starshield.