Musk positions its Starlink Company in the FAA Net Communication Contract
Elon Musk’s statements this week regarding his competition contract with the government has raised questions of ethics, as his new role leading the government efficiency department gives him comprehensive power over some of the agencies holding contracts with his private business interests.
Oakland, Calif. – Elon Musk raised ethical concerns, after he publicly exploded Verizon, a competitor to his Starlink satellite communication company under the parent company Spacex.
Musk’s Starlink Company offers satellite -based internet and communication services, and recently began more satellites of communication this month.
On his social media site this week, Musk exploded Verizon, who holds a $ 2 billion contract with FAA to provide services.
Musk said in his post, “Verizon communication system for air traffic control is being demolished”, and claimed to be close to “catastrophic failure, setting the safety of air passengers at serious risk”.
He gave no evidence of that dramatic accusation, and later said he was wrong about Verizon, drawing his words and posting a correction in the application.
Musk has not left the leadership of his companies, although his role as head of the government’s efficiency department under President Trump has given him comprehensive power over government departments, including those who have signed contracts with Musk’s private businesses.
This week, Musk stated that it was installing starlink equipment with FAA, and some sources report that the agency is ready to end its multi -billion dollars contract with Verizon, and instead give the contract to Musk’s company.
“Elon Musk is giving himself additional federal contracts. In fact, yesterday, it was reported that he gave himself the FAA contract for communications. You guys, this is grafting, debris, fraud, abuse,” said Congressman Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat.
UC Berkeley Professor of Political Science Eric Schickler, who is co -director of the Institute of Government Studies, says with Musk as a specific government employee and is not subject to confirmation of the senate, verification or normal reporting of ethics, the usual surveillance methods do not apply.
“Extremely is extremely unusual to have a government decision -maker with many visible powers, which has also been invested very and active in companies that are doing massive amounts of business with the federal government. And so, in itself, it creates a potential for a conflict of interest,” Schickler said.
Musk has cut thousands of jobs, including hundreds of FAA while he and Trump say they intend to cut a trillion dollars from the federal government.
However, with a Republican Congress, it is likely to be left to the American courts and people to decide where to draw ethical lines.
“The way many American cities and state governments worked in the 19th and 20th centuries in some countries was precisely that kind of machinery, where local business people essentially run the city in partnership with politicians and receive great contracts and great benefits,” Schickler said.
“During the last 50 to 60 years in the United States, there has been some kind of movement to legal and other ethical regulations to prove that this happens …. The whole government system is essentially predestined with the idea that we cannot only trust people to be loyal to the public interest,” he added.
“It really depends on whether the general public looks at this as unacceptable,” Schickler said.
FAA announced that the agency is testing Starlink terminals to connect land recipients to Atlantic City and Alaska with satellites.
According to Bloomberg News, a contractor, L3 Harris, says he has tested Starlink terminals for involvement in FAA infrastructure for several months.