American Household Cyber Defense HEADS UP: DOGE's Starlink plans for air traffic control governance
A HEADS UP memo on Starlink's plans to take over telecommunications governance of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and sunset Verizon as the Nation's air traffic control network provider.
🚨 UPDATE 2/28/2025
I have updated content below based on recent reporting that DOGE inaccurately said that the FAA is currently using legacy Verizon technology. Verizon corrected DOGE that they are actually modernizing the current FAA network.
This correction does not change the severity level of HIGH RISK for Starlink to act as the FAA air traffic control network provider.
From Reuters:
Starlink owner Musk wrongly accuses Verizon of faulty US aviation system
WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk on Thursday falsely accused Verizon, a rival contractor of his SpaceX Starlink system, of putting U.S. air safety at risk through a communications system that is actually operated by L3Harris.
Background
Earlier this month, I published a guide for navigating outages in critical infrastructure caused by Nation State Agent and presumed bad actor: DOGE. The purpose of these communications is to provide a Birds Eye view + practical field guidance for American Households that want to insulate themselves from imminent outages in banking and telecommunications during an ongoing national cutover to DOGE governance and systems.
Why you’re hearing from me
I’m an expert in cyber defense and enterprise systems and have ~15 years of experience building global architecture for the world’s two biggest tech giants. Nothing I say here is on behalf of my current employer (Microsoft) or former employer (Apple). All thoughts and recommendations are my own in my capacity as volunteer incident and impact manager triaging the ongoing DOGE cyber attacks.
Recommended pre-read
If you haven’t already, read my most recent comms to get up to speed with the latest recommendations on how to insulate your household from outages caused by DOGE governance.
How to read a HEADS UP memo
This memo is intended to be a HEADS UP to notify American Households of DOGE changes that are expected to become generally available (GA) to the public within 30-60 days.
📣 A HEADS UP memo is a feature of the change management methodology that I am following to address a gap in DOGE dev ops communications.
This HEADS UP is not a technical analysis but should be read as an urgent notice to your household so you have time to evaluate pending changes and then consider plans to future-proof against potential interruptions.
The importance of future proofing
Future proofing is an important strategy in cyber defense. Future proofing aims to get ahead of system outages and failures by safeguarding against potential interruptions. There are many ways to safeguard including building a fail-safe, standing up backups or taking a targeted action for course correction.
If you haven’t already, please read this guide on the importance of backing up:
What we know about DOGE’s supersedence plan
On Monday, Feb 24th, Elon Musk shared via X that Starlink will replace Verizon as the ground communications provider (network) for American air traffic control operations. Specifically, the leader of DOGE posted: “The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.”
Details on the cutover from Verizon to Starlink can be found here as reported by the Associated Press.
Type of change: Supersedence & Sunset
I’m defining this change as a “supersedence” because it is not clear how DOGE plans to migrate existing infrastructure, or carry-over current capabilities, to the new network given that Verizon’s technology is broadband, fiber-optic enabled, and DOGE’s Starlink is satellite enabled.
My assumption is this change requires a replacement/ override and not a migration.
🔄 Definition of supersedence in cyber security: In management software, you can use supersedence to update or replace existing apps to a newer version of the same app, or replace it with a different app.
Sunset of Verizon & throw-away work
UPDATE: Additional information has come to light that the FAA legacy tech is operated by L3Harris. This does not change my assessment as “L3Harris AeroMACS is a wireless broadband technology designed to support fixed and mobile communications at airport locations. It operates in the worldwide 5 GHz aviation band designated for use by ITU (International Telecommunication Union).”
It’s unknown what, if any, of the 200M that has already been invested into modernizing Verizon’s broadband network can be refactored to work alongside/ in conjunction with Starlink.
🚮 Throw-away code definition: “Thow-away” code/ work is a term used to describe projects where code checked in is discarded despite being code-reviewed and deemed “production-worthy” for general use. With careful planning, throw-away work is avoidable and should be prevented at all cost if you aim to maximize efficiency (some irony here).
Until we receive further information, we assume that the in-market Verizon infrastructure will be sunset, deprecated, and no longer in use for the purposes of air traffic control.
🌅 Sunset/ deprecation definition: Deprecation, also known as a “Sunset”, is best practice for legacy systems that are no longer maintainable or scalable in an enterprise context.
Typically a deprecation occurs in phases and is a slow rollout to allow clients time to make plans to use the new system. In this case, we do not know how much time will be allowed before Verizon’s network is no longer in use so we should assume that could happen immediately.
Starlink Risk Assessment
Starlink, when used in an out-of-band context, is generally considered to be a highly reliable internet service, particularly for users in rural areas where traditional broadband options are limited, offering consistent speeds and low latency, although its performance can be impacted by severe weather conditions; most users report experiencing fewer outages compared to cable internet, but the service can be expensive with a significant upfront cost for the hardware.
🆘 Definition of “out-of-band” in system architecture context: Out-of-band implies that the technology is bespoke/ custom to a single-purpose use and is not intended for live-site support of critical infrastructure.
Out-of-band technology is put in place primarily for emergencies or as a temporary solution and not suitable for mission-critical infrastructure. 🛫
Key points about Starlink’s documented quality and reliability:
High reliability for rural areas: Starlink stands out as a reliable option for people in remote locations where other internet providers struggle to reach.
Weather dependence: While generally reliable, heavy rain, snow, or extreme weather can affect Starlink's performance due to its satellite-based nature.
Consistent speeds: Users report mostly stable download speeds with minimal fluctuation, making it suitable for streaming and online gaming.
Low latency: Starlink offers low latency, which is important for activities like online gaming.
Large satellite network: SpaceX's large constellation of satellites contributes to consistent connectivity and redundancy.
Recommended future proofing: Course Correction
Severity Analysis: HIGH RISK
Below are the factors taken into consideration when setting the severity as HIGH RISK for Starlink’s use as the Nation’s air traffic control network provider:
RISK: Starlink’s new use context: At this time, it is not known whether Starlink is a reliable network for air traffic control governance and telecommunications.
The AP reporting indicates tests are currently underway but, without visibility into the testing methodology, we assume testing is happening outside of regulated federal channels and therefore not ready for enterprise use.
Former FAA officials also told The Associated Press that they were alarmed at the prospect of Starlink being used as a critical part of the nation’s aviation system without adequate testing, review and debate about its benefits and drawbacks.
RISK: Satellite vulnerability to weather interference: Changes in weather patterns as a result of climate change increases the unpredictable impact of extreme weather, leading to an elevated risk for satellite-based networks.
Considering the life-threatening ramifications of signal interruption due to weather interference in aviation navigation, weather vulnerability is flagged as a major concern.
As part of DOGE’s cyber attack, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) systems have been breached, introducing a second major security vulnerability to a critical piece of federal infrastructure reporting on weather threats.
Starklink’s out-of-band proof points are poor benchmarks
While Starlink has recently provided critical network support as part of emergency response and disaster recovery efforts in the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and for the Ukrainian war effort, we are lacking a real-world stress tested benchmark of Starlink’s use in the commercial air traffic control context.
For that reason, historical data used to assess whether Starlink is an appropriate choice to supersede Verizon’s in-market solution for air traffic control communications is missing. Until proof points are established we cannot trust justification for use of Starlink as a feasible technology in the FAA context.
🏆 Definition of proof points: Proof points are required to establish a baseline and bless technology as enterprise-ready for use in critical infrastructure.
Recommended action: Course correct travel plans
Given the high risk and unknowns at this time it is recommended that your household’s plans for air travel be avoided or delayed until we are certain that Starlink satellite technology is a suitable and secure replacement for existing FAA Verizon broadband usage.
📈The recent uptick in plane accidents, including the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001, since Trump’s inauguration is assumed to be a result of DOGE’s mass layoffs that have directly impacted the frontline ground control operations at the FAA, further demonstrating a lack of trustworthiness on behalf of Nation State Agent and bad actor DOGE.
This sucks
I am sorry for this disappointing information but knowledge is power, and in this case, it might save your life. When booking your next trip consider driving or delaying air travel until you feel confident that what DOGE is doing will not cause more planes to fall out of the sky.
Stay strong friends,
~ Lexi
Thank you for making your posts easy to understand for the average person. And including helpful links to educate oneself even more on the topic.
Lexi-As someone with no expertise in this area, I am incredibly grateful for you. Thank you so very much. 🙌🏼