Pentagon Watchdog Transfers Independent Review To The Department Being Reviewed

The Pentagon's inspector general has declined a bipartisan request from nine senators to investigate disruptions to Starlink and Starshield service in Ukraine. Inspector General Platte Moring says the questions are best handled as a contractual matter by the Air Force and Space Force, which oversee the military's contract with SpaceX.

American and Ukrainian officials say normal service has been restored. The inspector general's office says it carefully considered the request and may reconsider if new information emerges.

The connection is back. The explanation is being transferred.

First, the watchdog recommended sending the senators' questions to the Pentagon's undersecretary for policy. That office said the matter belonged with the military services handling the contract. So a request for independent scrutiny has arrived at the part of the department responsible for the arrangement being scrutinized.

Imagine hiring an outside accountant, then watching him hand your books back to the person who prepared them. He's very familiar with these numbers, the accountant explains. That's what worries me, you say. Excellent, he'll understand your concern immediately.

The Air Force and Space Force really do handle the contract. This isn't sending a satellite complaint to the cafeteria. They may have essential answers. But knowing who holds the paperwork isn't the same thing as having an independent office examine what happened.

OTHERWISE THE AUDIT IS JUST THE ORIGINAL SPREADSHEET WEARING A FALSE MUSTACHE.

No, take it off. We can see the same cells. You haven't become an outside perspective because someone printed you in landscape.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen says the administration and SpaceX have offered conflicting accounts. She argues the disruptions weakened Ukraine's defenses and unnecessarily endangered American personnel, and wants an independent review to establish responsibility and prevent a repeat. Those are her claims and her requested inquiry—not findings from an investigation that hasn't happened.

I would like to sit quietly with the good part: the service is restored. People who needed the connection have it again. We can be relieved about that without pretending the repair came with a neatly labeled explanation of who decided what.

And then the watchdog says it may reconsider if new information comes to light.

The office hasn't demanded that Congress conduct the investigation first. But its answer leaves me picturing the senators arriving next time with the records, interviews and timeline tucked under an arm. Here you go. We did the bit we hoped you might do.

WOULD YOU NOW BE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT WHAT WE FOUND OUT?

Would you like us to put your name on it, or can you handle that part?