According to The New York Times, the satellite internet service was provided to the government as part of Musk-led cost-cutting measures via the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the move was intended to ‘improve Wifi connectivity’ across the complex — despite the fact that the site already has some of the fastest and most secure internet in the world.
It’s never been publicly disclosed what keeps the White House connected, for obvious security reasons, however, the city of Washington DC is covered by extensive access to fibre networks and high-capacity infrastructure from the likes of FiberLight and Crown Castle.
Starlink is designed to serve remote areas, providing connectivity to rural areas with limited or no access to high-speed broadband, not as a Wifi booster.
While it might benefit a government site out in the sticks, the technology doesn’t seem suited to downtown DC beyond a backup solution, which the White House complex likely has several.
The Times report suggests that the Starlink system is being routed through a dedicated White House data centre with existing fibre cables, miles from the complex.
The deployment raised several eyebrows among the security community, as while encrypted, Starlink likely does not meet the classified security standards required for White House communications.
Such concerns were raised by Waldo Jaquith, a former government official who worked on tech and data initiatives and notably oversaw the federal government’s agency IT telecommunications contracts.
“This is extremely bad,” Jaquith said in a post on BlueSky. “There is absolutely no need for this. Not only is it a huge security exposure, but the simplest explanation for this is that it is meant to be a security exposure.”
There have been numerous reports on the past of Starlink terminals being hacked, with renowned cybersecurity researcher Lennert Wouters infamously showing that the SpaceX technology can be circumvented using a device that costs just $25.
There were further security concerns with Starlink’s reported deployment at the White House after the Secret Service approved it, only for a DOGE staffer to have accessed the roof to install a terminal without informing the agency, which subsequently set off a security alarm.
Once the darling of the LEO market, Starlink now finds itself with increasing competition from rivals including Eutelsat, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and the Chinese state-backed initiative known as SpaceSail.
This development marks the latest attempt from Musk to ingratiate himself into the Trump administration, having bankrolled the President’s election campaign, leading to drastic cost-cutting efforts via DOGE.
The billionaire denied the installation was a conflict of interest, mere days after President Trump joined him to parade Tesla vehicles on the White House driveway.
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