Musk’s Starlink gets FAA contract, raising new conflict of interest concerns
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of 23 Starlink internet satellites soars into space after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base earlier this month.
By Chris Isidore, CNN
New York (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to use SpaceX’s Starlink internet system to upgrade the information technology networks it uses to manage US airspace, raising new concerns about conflicts of interest for CEO Elon Musk in one of his other roles, that of recommending funding cuts at federal agencies, including the FAA.
The size of this contract was not immediately reported. SpaceX is a privately held space technology company greatly dependent on federal contracts, primarily from NASA. Its Starlink satellite internet provides service for government and private customers around the world.
The contract comes while Musk is leading efforts to make deep cuts in federal government spending, including staffing cuts at the FAA, and some critics are raising questions about conflicts of interest over his role overseeing government agencies that are supposed to be regulating his businesses.
Musk, a key supporter of President Donald Trump during the last election, is heading the Department of Government Efficiency, making moves to cut federal staff in the name of eliminating waste and fraud.
The FAA in a post on Musk’s social media platform X disclosed Monday night that it is testing one Starlink terminal at its Atlantic City, New Jersey, facility, and two in what it called “non-safety critical sites” in Alaska.
“Alaska has long had issues with reliable weather information for the aviation community,” it said in the post. “The 2024 FAA reauthorization required the FAA to fix telecommunications connections to fix those needs.”
The FAA’s use of Starlink was first reported by Bloomberg. That report said it would eventually include 4,000 Starlink terminals and be deployed over the next 12 to 18 months.
There is no dispute that the FAA’s various computer and communications systems are badly in need of an upgrade. A December report by the Government Accountability Office was entitled “Urgent FAA actions are needed to modernize aging systems.”
Soon after the fatal crash of a military helicopter and a regional jet on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that he had had discussions with Musk and that he was going to help the FAA “remake our airspace” and “do it quickly.”
The FAA already has a contract with Verizon to upgrade its information technology networks. In a post on X Monday, Musk said “The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.”
Verizon defended the quality of the work it is doing for the FAA.
“Verizon is bringing the nation’s most reliable network to the FAA at a time when critical infrastructure and technology enhancements are needed most,” Verizon spokesman Rich Young said in a statement to CNN.
“We’re at the beginning of a 15-year contract with the FAA that will help the agency modernize its technology. Protecting Americans who rely on a safe, secure and functioning air traffic control system is more important than ever, and our enhancements will help make that happen,” he added.
‘Significantly richer’
Musk has numerous business interests that are overseen by federal agencies. Beyond the FAA and NASA, he is also regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He has often clashed with several of those agencies over the years.
But his businesses, including SpaceX, Tesla and others, also have benefited from numerous government programs and regulations over the years, which has made him the richest man on the planet. Without early support for Tesla from low interest loans, tax credits for buyers of its electric vehicles and the sale of regulatory credits to other legacy automakers trying to comply with federal emission rules, Tesla, the major source of his wealth, might not exist today.
In prepared remarks for a House committee hearing on the topic of mining in space, University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush and now also serves as the Vice Chair of government watchdog Citizens for Responsible and Ethics in Washington, argued that space mining could eventually make Musk significantly richer.
Space mining poses a “serious risk” of new conflicts of interest given NASA’s likely role in the future of space mining and Musk’s duties in the Trump administration.
SpaceX has a contract to launch a probe later this week for a space exploration company called AstroForge that hopes do to a flyby of an asteroid as a test in the hopes of eventually mining for minerals in space.
Musk should be required to “publicly disclose his financial information like every other senior official in the White House,” said Painter’s prepared remarks. Calling him a “special government employee” as he has been designated to avoid him having to make his financial interests public is a “charade” according to Painter, a frequent critic of Trump.
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