Don't take anything musk says at face value. Or expect him to consider reality from a rational perspective.

Does ITAR apply to starlink?

It appears that SpaceX has not launched weapons, but only reconnaissance. Reconnaissance is nonviolent.

Reconnaissance is non-violent? That’s a bit of a stretch (and certainly if reconnaissance is non-violent, so is comms).

It absolutely is. I put up security cameras on my house (which contains deadly weapons); it is not an act of violence to know who comes and goes.

I am of the belief that being maximally situationally aware is one of the best ways of avoiding and preventing violence.

Comms are indeed nonviolent: you will note that he provided the Starlink terminals for free and comped some service for them as well. The special case of using comms to remote control a deadly weapon is obviously violent, and is the point at which it was shut off. It doesn't much matter if you are using linkages, hydraulics, electrical cables, or RF to murder people remotely.

Despite the euphemistic use of "defense" as a cover for all war operations, in the traditional sense of the word, there actually remains a big difference between defense and offense, ie between using technology to protect your own, versus using technology to harm your enemies. The lines have intentionally been blurred to make it impossible to support one without the other, but they are actually different.

Starlink did not have a US military contract in Ukraine at the time I believe.

It's with the Pentagon, they are paying for Ukraine's access.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/pentagon-...

There were deals going on in 2022 iirc, but it's hard to find those links given recent Musk shenanigans

“At the time of Ukraine’s request last year, Musk wasn’t getting any US funding for Starlink’s operations in Ukraine” https://archive.ph/ctNVZ