If they'd forced him to use Starlink for Ukraine and they still lost, however, the illusion of "we could have won if..." is broken. This way, depending on the public, they have a sage peacekeeper who avoided nuclear war, or a selfish traitor they can use as a scapegoat. Gotta keep the libs and fascists dreaming.

I wouldn't be surprised if the CIA were in favour of what he did. They want a long, protracted bloodbath, not a short nuclear armageddon.