A watchdog group has asked the Transportation Department’s inspector general to investigate whether the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) business with Elon Musk’s Starlink violates conflict of interest laws.
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) argued in a letter to the inspector general Thursday that evidence suggesting Musk “has blatantly and improperly influenced” the FAA’s work with Starlink warrants an investigation.
“Publicly available information provides extensive evidence that the FAA’s business relationship with Starlink is tainted by Musk’s influence,” wrote Kedric Payne, CLC’s vice president, general counsel and senior director for ethics, and Delaney Marsco, the watchdog’s ethics director.
Starlink’s work with the FAA has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, after reports emerged that the administration was considering cancelling Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract to revamp its telecommunications system in favor of Musk’s satellite communications firm.
SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, has denied any push to take over Verizon’s contract. However, it confirmed that it is providing Starlink kits and services to the FAA for free “as one piece of the infrastructure upgrades so badly needed” to the current system.
Musk has also criticized the current communications system, arguing it is “breaking down very rapidly” and warning it is “single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk.”
CLC emphasized Musk role as a senior advisor in the Trump administration, leading the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cost-cutting efforts. Both DOGE staff and SpaceX engineers arrived at the FAA in mid-February, according to Politico.
“With this authority and support, he has openly criticized the FAA’s contractors while directing the agency to test and use his company’s services,” Payne and Marsco added. “These facts establish a possible criminal conflict of interest violation, and an OIG investigation is needed to determine whether the facts constitute a legal violation.”
