Washington (February 26, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today wrote to Chris Rocheleau, Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with questions about the FAA’s recent decision to deploy three Starlink terminals, which provide broadband internet connectivity through a satellite network, from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Given Musk’s dual positions as CEO of SpaceX and wide-spread role in the Trump administration, this decision creates an appearance of a conflict-of-interest. The FAA has not released any information about SpaceX employees’ role in the FAA or whether the Administration has agreed to or implemented any ethics agreements to ensure Musk and the SpaceX employees do not improperly use their FAA access to benefit SpaceX.
In the letter, Senator Markey wrote, “The FAA’s recent announcement — made on X, another company owned by Musk — that it was testing one Starlink terminal in Atlantic City and two terminals at non-safety critical sites in Alaska raises questions about the process by which this deployment occurred. Although Musk’s role in the Trump administration remains ambiguous, he is reportedly serving as a ‘special government employee’ and SpaceX engineers have reportedly been touring FAA facilities and were brought on as your senior advisers... Although I recognize that Starlink could be helpful in ensuring reliable connections in remote areas, such as Alaska, given the overlapping relationships with Musk and SpaceX employees, transparency is critical to ensure that the Starlink deployments are serving FAA’s core safety mission.”
Senator Markey requested answers by April 9, 2025, to questions that include:
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