Former Secy E.A.S. Sarma Expresses ‘Serious Concerns’ Over Starlink Deal; Seeks Judicial Probe

New Delhi: E.A.S. Sarma, a former secretary to the Government of India, has stepped up his challenge to assigning satellite spectrum directly to Elon Musk's Starlink, demanding an immediate, independent judicial enquiry. In a sharp letter dated June 9, 2025, to cabinet secretary T.V. Somanathan, Sarma repeated that the move violates a Supreme Court order, costs the public treasury dearly and gravely threatens national security.

Sarma's June 9 letter is his latest warning. He also referred to his June 2 letter, which detailed how the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) reportedly made "out-of-the-way, imprudent concessions" to Starlink. In that letter, Sarma had argued that allowing the foreign company – which he said was "working in tandem with the US defence services" – a "near monopoly on direct satellite surveillance over India" openly violated the Supreme Court's 2G spectrum ruling where it said that such resources should not be assigned opaquely. 

He also highlighted an "extra-ordinary exemption" granted to Starlink from the standard security rule allowing authorities to monitor a licensee’s equipment near international borders.

Sarma, a 1965 batch IAS officer, has expressed his concerns earlier too. In a letter dated November 14, 2024, to the DOT Secretary, Sarma first warned against directly assigning strategic satellite spectrum, particularly to foreign firms like Starlink with known "close ties with the US Army." 

He cited reports suggesting Starlink is "a time-tested reliable satellite bus technology that can accommodate various payloads as needed, including radars, optical cameras, and infrared (IR) missile launch signaling systems." He urged that satellite spectrum be reserved for the Indian Space Research Organisation, the defense forces and strategic Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).

By February 23, 2025, Sarma’s warnings grew more urgent. Citing news that the US had reportedly threatened to "shut off" Starlink in Ukraine unless it secured a deal for a "lion’s share in its mineral resources," he urged the DOT to tighten safeguards against Starlink. He expressed dismay that India was welcoming the company "with open arms... against all legal norms, ignoring all strategic implications."

Sarma raised market practices on March 13, 2025, alleging Starlink was "forming a cartel with the two domestic telecom operators, namely, Jio and Airtel." He suggested this would allow them to "dominate satellite spectrum use at the cost of millions of telecom customers in India," potentially leading to a "scam far worse and more egregious than the 2G spectrum scam."

In his latest letter, Sarma points to new foreign events to highlight his security concerns. He cites news reports from early June 2025, including a detailed Washington Post article dated June 7, 2025. According to this report, "Elon Musk’s team at the U.S. DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches when DOGE personnel installed Musk’s Starlink internet service in the complex this year." 

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that a Starlink terminal was installed on the roof of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in February. A "Starlink Guest" WiFi network then appeared on White House phones, asking only for a password without further checks. This setup, the report indicated, could allow data transmission "without any kind of record or tracking," bypassing normal White House IT security.

One source told the Post, “With a Starlink connection, that means White House devices could leave the network and go out through gateways… It’s going to help you bypass security.” Representative Stephen F. Lynch, the House Oversight Committee’s acting top Democrat, said the situation "could have the potential to undermine our national security by exposing sensitive data and information to hackers, our adversaries, or those wishing to do Americans harm."

Sarma hopes these reports will "wake up the government to the security risk posed by foreign players in India." He stated, "Evidently, on extraneous considerations, the government has chosen to ignore my cautionary letters and go ahead with granting clearance to StarLink."

The former secretary has pressed for a judicial enquiry to examine several points: whether directly assigning spectrum complied with the Supreme Court's 2G judgment; changes to StarLink's security license conditions; the strategic effects of StarLink's near-monopoly and its US defense ties; and the likely loss to the public treasury from not auctioning the spectrum.

He ended his letter stating that the "manner in which DOT had gone out of the way to give a special treatment to Elon Musk and StarLink, throwing caution and legality to the wind, raises serious concerns about the propriety of the deal itself." 

He warned that failing to start an enquiry "would lead one to draw the inference that the government does not wish to hold itself accountable to the Parliament and the public." 

In his previous letter, Sarma had stated clearly that if the government failed to respond promptly, he would "have no other alternative than to seek judicial intervention."

The government has not publicly responded to Sarma's latest claims yet.

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