The Real Truth About Elon Musk's Power Over the Pentagon

After shutting Starlink off in eastern Ukraine as troops were advancing on the enemy, SpaceX fenced off coverage, which prevented the Ukrainians from communicating effectively in the heat of battle and most likely cost lives. The action caused U.S. Department of Defense officials to worry about just how much power Elon Musk has over the Pentagon with SpaceX's proprietary technology like Starlink.

And as an audiobook here:

[adamsteinhardt]

Nuanced coverage of polarizing figures like Musk is hard to come by. It’s important to understand opposing views independently and ideally before deciding to agree or disagree with them. The world need more of this sort of coverage.

[skyboys]

Howard Hughes
told the federal government and the DOD that, he will deal with them at his own discretion .

[slartybarfastb]

If the DoD wants to control the geo fencing and unfettered use of Starlink, then pay for it.
What other US defense contractor provides services for free, before a contract is signed? Where is the praise for Starlink providing free Starlink to Ukraine in the first place? Would Boreing or LockMart have done this?

[AnyWayICan]

I’ll just say that it’s nice to have such a high-profile defense contractor who DOESN’T want World War 3.

[taketh]

That was a fine line you walked there. good quality for an officer to have.

[bassops]

It’s not OK to tell somebody that they have to give their technology to another country. If the government wants to support another country, then they should contract for those services.

[TroIIingThemSoftly]

This is why one person who can't be voted in or out should not have so much power.

[jperksification]

Excellent overview of Musk without the extraneous BS. Most appreciated.

[ariochiv]

SpaceX asked the DOD to compensate them for the Ukrainian Starlink use, and the DOD refused. At that point it's kind of disingenuous to act outraged when a private company decides that it doesn't want to foot the bill for a foreign war.

[trevorr]

I live in Central FL. It seems there is a SpaceX launch every few days.

[randalljeffs]

Imagine listening to this report, but it’s 1980.

[mrfusioneng]

Very good commentary, by the way, Elon is very concerned about space junk as well, so all his satellites use their thrusters to maintain orbit, ( which because of the altitude do experience drag, ( just like the ISS), and need to be re- boosted and positioned once in a while). They have enough fuel for around 5 years of active use. After useful life, there is just enough fuel left to de-orbit his satellites, and they are specifically designed to burn up completely upon re-entry. I believe he said he has 14 early satellites that ran out of fuel too soon, or got damaged, and will remain in orbit uncontrolled for around 3 more yrs before coming down on their own. Out of his 6000 satellites, that’s not bad. One of his visions for his starship, once operational, is to possibly collect up those bad satellites. The guy is a visionary character for sure.
I spent my life as a mover and shaker in global manufacturing, and have never seen any companies as productive as his, and his people.

[prohero]

The USCG has installed Star Link on our cutters. Pretty good connectivity.

[GSXRization]

I have never purchased a Tesla. I certainly cannot fathom having the means to go to space but Elon is a very interesting character. It seems most of the people in his arena are so used to being dishonest as a standard business practice that they have a very hard time with him. He will say what he thinks and listens to your argument intently. He will act on it if makes sense. But he has a very good ability to see through all the fluff and around the point arguments. It's a very strange approach sadly in a position where you would expect being direct and straight to the point would be status quo.

[ZenZaBill]

When I was at Tesla, I drank beer with Elon in the auto shop after hours with some other engineers... he is, in person, the same guy you see in interviews. And, he does indeed have some Asperger's Syndrome (it takes one to know one.) But his beer choice - Heineken - well, even I know to avoid skunk piss. And as I am about to click the Comment button, this will go up and out over my Starlink panel, which has brought color to this rural, old, slow DSL black and white world of the ranch. What was once 1Mb/s download is now 125-250 Mb/s

[tomboard]

You sure do have an interesting way to describe Musk. Adjectives and adverbs say a lot about a person. You have a real passive aggressive stance towards him. That indicates you lean strongly to the left. That being the case, you make a mockery of that jacket and your time served.

[lenasianight]

I dont think it makes sense to use Mach number when talking about speeds outside the atmosphere

[roflchopter]

7:45 there's no way the drone pictured is being flown via Starlink. It's clearly via a point-to-point, line-of-sight radio link. Larger drones could be flown with Starlink, but the US had the Predator and Reaper before Starlink, so Starlink is clearly not "required"

[Thomas-frnx]

Couldn't get an informative factual report like that from anywhere else I've found. Thanks

[dave]

This is a really good YouTube channel.