And Ukrainian officials tell me their ability to intercept Russia's jet-powered drones, including those that hit Kyiv today, is still hampered because of limits on the speed their interceptors can fly, limits recently imposed, Jeff, by SpaceX.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Nick, what more have you learned about the curtailing of the Starlink and Starshield services in Ukraine?

NICK SCHIFRIN: The bottom line is, limitations, as I just said, are still there.

And reminder, Geoff, of what that means and why this is so important.

Ukraine's offensive mid-range drones, but also defensive drone interceptors, use SpaceX navigation to feed video, and those are the little satellites that SpaceX creates.

Higher-end units use Starshield, which is designed for the military, as opposed to Starlink, which is designed for commercially.

And these Starshield receivers are literally attached to the drones themselves.

They're faster.

They're more encrypted than Starlink, and that makes them much less jammable by Russia.

And that makes them what multiple officials told me today were a game-changing capability when it comes to the war.

But SpaceX limited the speed where these receivers work on the drones to about 100 miles an hour, and that makes the defensive interceptors and their offensive drones much less effective, limiting Ukraine's ability to wage the war, period.

That's why it's so important to Ukraine.

And to underline a point, Geoff, there is no other company, nor any other country with this technology.

Only SpaceX has created this network and this capability, giving the company and founder, Elon Musk, enormous influence over the war in Ukraine, but also over the U.S.

military and other NATO militaries that use the exact same technology.

GEOFF BENNETT: And on that point, what's the latest on the source, the known source of the slowdown?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the president or anyone else in the U.S.

government had anything to do with the speed limitations.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S.

Secretary of State: The president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr.

Musk.

That's a private company.

The president doesn't run that company and can't direct that company to do anything.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Now, multiple officials tell me that, even if Starshield is considered a military company or a military platform, Geoff, SpaceX and Elon Musk do have the ability to throttle, to limit the speed that the receivers work.

And, again, that underscores the company's power and Musk's influence.

But The Wall Street Journal today reported that Musk spoke to President Trump before the throttling, before the limitations were actually imposed.

As for Trump and Musk themselves, Musk pointed the finger at Trump last week.

He tweeted -- quote -- "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S.

government.

Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S.

military and ultimately the president of the United States."

But President Trump said this last Friday: QUESTION: Was it Elon Musk who decided to temporarily pause Starlink access for the Ukrainian military?

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Well, I don't know if it was anybody, because it wasn't me.

And I don't think it was Elon.

And from what I understand, it's the same as it's always been.

NICK SCHIFRIN: It is not the same as it's always been for Ukraine.

This afternoon, the president again denied he was involved.

And when asked about Musk, the president replied: "I don't know who did it" -- unquote.

Bottom line for Ukraine, the officials tell me they don't care who limited the speed.

They just want to see it fixed.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nick Schifrin, thanks, as always.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: For more on all of this, we turn now to retired Air Force Colonel Charles Galbreath, who focused on space operations during his 30-year career in the military.

He's now at the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute.

Colonel, welcome to the show.

So, to pick up where Nick left off there, from what you know about Starlink and its government controlled system of Starshield, how they run, could one person, namely, Elon Musk, issue that kind of order to throttle or slow down that system?

COL.

CHARLES GALBREATH (RET.

), U.S.

Space Force: Well, first, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening.

So, Starlink and Starshield are basically the same system, with the exception of enhanced encryption capability on Starshield.

The other key distinction is, Starlink is completely contractor-owned and contractor-operated.

So, SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the contractors that work for him control that system.

Starshield is supposed to be a government-controlled or government-owned, but contractor-operated system.

So there should be two different paths to make determinations on how much bandwidth, what speeds, what areas get the type of coverage that they need.

So, regarding Starlink, that is a private company.

And, certainly Elon Musk, as that proprietor, could make those decisions, as long as they're consistent with the user agreements that they have in place with the many users that leverage that system.

Starshield should have been controlled by the government.

AMNA NAWAZ: So do I take that to mean that Elon Musk as a private citizen would not be able to issue an order that would throttle or limit the speed of the Starshield system?

Is that what you're saying?

COL.

CHARLES GALBREATH (RET.

): He should not be able to do that.

That's correct.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, what do you make of the reporting and some of the conflicting messaging we're hearing from the people involved in this story at this point, that Musk is pointing the finger at the president of the United States, saying he made a decision to do so?

Reporting suggests that Musk made that decision and issued the order.

What do you make -- how do you make sense of those?

COL.

CHARLES GALBREATH (RET.

): So I -- there's a lot of misinformation going around certainly right now, and it will take a while to get to the bottom of actually what happened.

I do believe that the government should have been in control and made the decision on Starshield, rather than Elon Musk or anyone at Starlink.

And, frankly, any military operation and the impacts that a system like this could have on it, that needs to be through consultation with senior leaders, such as the Space Command commander, the EUCOM commander, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Those three individuals should have been in consultation with the president, if that's where the decision was made.

And, certainly, if Elon Musk unilaterally made that decision, those three should be standing up and saying, you don't have that authority, put it back the way it belongs.

AMNA NAWAZ: Colonel, more broadly speaking here, when you look, as Nick was reporting, on the reliance of the U.S.

military of Ukraine's operations at this point, too, on a system like SpaceX, which is run by a private citizen, Elon Musk, what do you make of that reliance, of that sense of control that this one company has over those operations?

COL.

CHARLES GALBREATH (RET.

): It is a significant amount of control that this one company has.

And it's not just Starlink and the communications capability that it provides, but also SpaceX and the launch capability that it provides.

SpaceX and the Falcon rocket are the premier launch capabilities for the United States right now, setting the world record in terms of launch cadence.

And the military, the intelligence community, national security at large is very much dependent on maintaining a good relationship with Elon Musk and access to the SpaceX boosters.

When you add on top of that the control over Starlink and the communications network and all those that depend on it, that is a significant amount of sway or leeway that that leader, that individual, that private citizen can have.

You talked about the military implications.

And, certainly, Ukraine is very much reliant on Starlink for their military operations.

And we have seen this happen in the past.

A few years ago, it was reported that Elon Musk directed a slowdown of the capability or the limitations on how Ukraine could use Starlink that had significant military implications.

And so here it is again, once again in the headlines.

And I do believe that we need to have a good investigation as to what happened here and ensure that there are checks and balances in place to ensure that national security interests are preserved through national security channels and not through the choices of an individual.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is retired Air Force Colonel Charles Galbreath joining us tonight.

Colonel, thank you so much for your time.

COL.

CHARLES GALBREATH (RET.

): Thank you.