Golden Dome

There was an announcement this week from President Trump and Secretary Hegseth about establishing a Golden Dome system here in the United States.

I have questions.

My assumption is this is a version of the Golden Dome system that protects Israel from incoming drones, missiles, and rockets from any neighboring countries. If it is conceptually like all other air defense systems, it is a bunch of radar and sensors scattered around boundaries and borders, set up in an array to provide early detection and early warning of any incoming aerial threats to the United States.

Who do we think is such an active threat right now that has the capability to attack the United States with these types of threats? Is it China? Russia? North Korea? Maybe not a nation-state? Is it a cartel? A terrorist organization?

Where do we think these are coming from? Across the Bering Strait from Russia? Across the Pacific Ocean from China or North Korea? Submarines in the Atlantic? Or maybe over the wall from Mexico? Or from Canada? What about from one of the Caribbean nations being used as a proxy like Cuba in 1962?

What do we think is the biggest threat? Hypersonic missiles? Old school ICBM nukes from the Cold War? A drone swarm from the cartels? Short range stuff from submarines or surface ships? What about from aircraft? Or maybe a combination of all of them?

Does this mean we will have US Service members actively manning radar and sensor sites, as well as weapon launching sites, all over the United States? Does that include Hawaii and Alaska? Will that require an increase in DoD or are we repurposing our current manpower? Or is it completely autonomous? Anyone who has seen the Terminator movies would hope not.

Are we going back to 24/7 tactical nuclear bombers in the air like in the days of Strategic Air Command? If the threat is severe enough to require a system like Golden Dome, shouldn’t we be able to return fire with the same level of speed and intensity?

And if we have a threat this severe, what ELSE is the Department of Defense doing to address it? Does this mean more aircraft? Submarines? Maybe a manpower increase? Or are we just going to be defensive?

And what is all this going to cost? How long to develop, test, train, and install? When will it be active? What military command authority is going to own it? If it is autonomous, who is responsible when there is a malfunction? If it isn’t autonomous, who gives it authority to fire? Hypersonic missiles are pretty fast. I’m guessing we won’t be able to get the President on the phone to approve the system to fire in time.

What I really want to know is….

WHAT ELSE AREN’T YOU TELLING US?

Installing the Golden Dome seems like regression and not progression. I know President Reagan imagined the Star Wars system for missile defense against the Soviets at the height of the Cold War before the wall came down. Back in those days, the threat was real, and it was public, and we all knew about it.

We knew where the shelters were. They were marked at public buildings and people paid attention. Schools had drills, however ineffective, to prepare for a known threat. The Emergency Broadcast System wasn’t something that you forgot about until it came screeching across the radio. I doubt most people below the age of 30 even know what it is. Some people had bomb shelters with food and provisions.

I’m not saying we need to go back to that, but we KNEW about the threat and where it was coming from.

Right now, we are going to build, test, install, and man a nationwide defense system that will likely cost billions of dollars…. and we don’t know why.

I don’t know about you, but I am not OK with using “global threats” as a reason. It sounds a lot like “national security” as a reason for the Patriot Act.

Can I make assumptions about the who and the what and the why? Sure, I can do that. I spent a long time in the Army, and I understand the myriad of threats to this nation. But I want to hear, specifically, what the US Government and the Department of Defense believe we need this level of protection against. The who, the what, and the why.

We all need to know why the United States needs a Golden Dome.