As someone who has extensive experience in aerospace and defense, I can tell you that the Star Wars program of Reagan’s presidency was a massive disaster that continue to be felt throughout the industry. It was intricate, expensive, and never got off the ground. When I heard about Golden Dome it was the first thing I thought of.
That was my recollection too, though I'm not familiar with how it's reverberated through the industry. So much of what's happening now has roots in the Reagan administration, but -- as I remind myself daily -- one has to be around 60 years old to remember it, and what a break it was from the previous several decades.
But I have come to learn the contracts associated with the program and the fall out. Big ideas are amazing…understanding the repercussions is something that is difficult to reconcile.
As an admittedly uninformed person when it comes to advanced national defensive strategies, I found your writings on this matter very illuminating if not alarming.
As per your description, the Trump administration is flying in the face of what seems to be more practicable solutions regarding nationwide missle defense…par for the course when talking about the generally scattershot impulsive tendencies towards policy development by this Administration.
Thank you for taking the time to write this clear-eyed assessment!
Great breakdown. Totally agree. Will add options are; Fast, Good or Cheap…pick two. Will also propose continued or increase funding in traditional intel systems to provide early warning of possible missile (or other threats) attacks on US soil a more prudent use of taxpayer dollars. Admire all you are doing for our nation. Please continue pressing.
Thank you for laying this out. Trump apparently has watched too many science fiction movies. Our biggest threat in the present is cyber warfare. That's where we need to be concentrating our efforts. Trump is flailing, looking for distractions from Hegseth and the mess he made with his tariffs.
I know there's so much going on and it's overwhelming. This is a complicated topic...hopefully I broke it down in a digestible manner for everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read it.
So we're saying here "THEY" want to spend billions of dollars on something which won't help us one bit. Should I be surprised? I look at it kind of like the EO for a larger showerhead in the White House bathroom!
Being able to read and think coherently is problematic for the Trump regime. Their biggest issue is that we can, and our having that capacity is bad for their agendas. So they try to label us all as 'elites' and 'enemies of the People'.
It's glaringly obvious to anyone reading your excellent analysis here that Reagan's use of "Star Wars" was primarily as a negotiating ploy in the context of broader efforts at containment and non-proliferation.
Rule one for understanding Trumpists: there is no 'context'. For anything. It's too complex a concept for his followers to comprehend, so he pretends everything happens in splendid isolation from everything else. Destroying American international trade with indiscriminate mega-tariffs crushes investor confidence in American DEBT (the steel spine for... everything), not just the stock market. But who among them could have seen that? Moreover, who among them could understand the extent of that as a disastrous problem for the country in the long-run, even if it were patiently explained to them? Very few.
Likewise with this. He can paint a simple picture for them of "perfect safety from all threats" and successfully dissuade them from listening to anything the 'enemy elites' try to tell them to the contrary. Because it works, those Americans will still be with us long after Trump is gone. They've actually been with us from the very founding of the nation, but we've not been able to address that reality in any way that's effective. And that right there is root of any security problems we have.
Your article is right on so many things, I just had to add a bit more:
Any space based deterrent that could shoot the missiles as they are launched, would of necessity be a relatively low altitude orbital "Constellation" which you referred to, but what many people forget is that only a geosynchronous orbit stays directly over head a given location/area and that orbit is VERY high indeed, far too far away to be of any value in such an interception with any kind of missile or railgun. Laser, punching through that much atmosphere creates a lot of problems and challenges too, especially to provide enough energy to disable an actual missile.
Any low altitude constellation orbits over everyone, every country, (even our own) and having anybody's 'shotgun' directly overhead, aimed at you all the time, creates a 'diplomatic challenge' to say the least. It would only take one space faring nation, such as China, to object to such an arsenal over their heads to initiate a true 'space war' where they would be motivated to start shooting down such platforms when over their heads. It would be hard to claim they were not provoked, just as any nation has the right to shoot down a war jet, or even a 'balloon' over their country.
Slowly, slowly it comes into focus why Elon Musk (who used to be a leading voice for renewable energy and climate change, before he went crazy) switched sides and made a pact with the devil.
Who's going to launch all these satellites, and to whom will we pay our "Netflix" subscription to keep our big, beautiful Golden Dome online? I donno. SpaceX maybe? Just wild guess.
Sounds like you're joining the Michael Wolff school of thought, that's it's all about the show for Trump. What do you expect from a reality tv star?
IIRC, Star Wars freaked Andropov out. He became all but convinced Able Archer in 1983 was cover for a preemptive attack. Oleg Gordievsky convinced the Brits, who convinced Reagan, that he really needed to cool it, which, thankfully, he did.
One thing about this column is it provides no illusion to what would happen if Trump and MAGA disappeared: You and Charlie Sykes and JVL and Rick Wilson, among many, would easily go back to the dark side. Back to welfare queens and Willie Horton. I'm for a strong defense but our current military budget is a trough for billionaires, just as as supply-side economics has been, as it destroyed the middle class and led to our third world level of income inequality. And the minority takeover of the government by "normie" Republicans - Citizens United, vote suppression, so many other things too numerous to list - was in play long before Trump.
We remain partners against Trump but I have no illusions about what happens if we somehow succeed.
As someone who has extensive experience in aerospace and defense, I can tell you that the Star Wars program of Reagan’s presidency was a massive disaster that continue to be felt throughout the industry. It was intricate, expensive, and never got off the ground. When I heard about Golden Dome it was the first thing I thought of.
That was my recollection too, though I'm not familiar with how it's reverberated through the industry. So much of what's happening now has roots in the Reagan administration, but -- as I remind myself daily -- one has to be around 60 years old to remember it, and what a break it was from the previous several decades.
I am not 60…hahaha
But I have come to learn the contracts associated with the program and the fall out. Big ideas are amazing…understanding the repercussions is something that is difficult to reconcile.
Olivia,
As an admittedly uninformed person when it comes to advanced national defensive strategies, I found your writings on this matter very illuminating if not alarming.
As per your description, the Trump administration is flying in the face of what seems to be more practicable solutions regarding nationwide missle defense…par for the course when talking about the generally scattershot impulsive tendencies towards policy development by this Administration.
Thank you for taking the time to write this clear-eyed assessment!
Dan Woiski
Great article! Thanks for laying this out. Too bad the current administration won't pay attention to it.
Seems the only “Golden” thing they don’t care about is the “Golden Rule”
Great breakdown. Totally agree. Will add options are; Fast, Good or Cheap…pick two. Will also propose continued or increase funding in traditional intel systems to provide early warning of possible missile (or other threats) attacks on US soil a more prudent use of taxpayer dollars. Admire all you are doing for our nation. Please continue pressing.
Thank you for laying this out. Trump apparently has watched too many science fiction movies. Our biggest threat in the present is cyber warfare. That's where we need to be concentrating our efforts. Trump is flailing, looking for distractions from Hegseth and the mess he made with his tariffs.
Thank you for educating us on a topic I had no idea of. I feel like I’m drinking from a fire hose at times, but so want to stay informed and educated.
I know there's so much going on and it's overwhelming. This is a complicated topic...hopefully I broke it down in a digestible manner for everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read it.
So we're saying here "THEY" want to spend billions of dollars on something which won't help us one bit. Should I be surprised? I look at it kind of like the EO for a larger showerhead in the White House bathroom!
Being able to read and think coherently is problematic for the Trump regime. Their biggest issue is that we can, and our having that capacity is bad for their agendas. So they try to label us all as 'elites' and 'enemies of the People'.
It's glaringly obvious to anyone reading your excellent analysis here that Reagan's use of "Star Wars" was primarily as a negotiating ploy in the context of broader efforts at containment and non-proliferation.
Rule one for understanding Trumpists: there is no 'context'. For anything. It's too complex a concept for his followers to comprehend, so he pretends everything happens in splendid isolation from everything else. Destroying American international trade with indiscriminate mega-tariffs crushes investor confidence in American DEBT (the steel spine for... everything), not just the stock market. But who among them could have seen that? Moreover, who among them could understand the extent of that as a disastrous problem for the country in the long-run, even if it were patiently explained to them? Very few.
Likewise with this. He can paint a simple picture for them of "perfect safety from all threats" and successfully dissuade them from listening to anything the 'enemy elites' try to tell them to the contrary. Because it works, those Americans will still be with us long after Trump is gone. They've actually been with us from the very founding of the nation, but we've not been able to address that reality in any way that's effective. And that right there is root of any security problems we have.
An attempt by TFG to change the narrative vs Signalgate 1&2 and Tariff and Immigration mess.
Your article is right on so many things, I just had to add a bit more:
Any space based deterrent that could shoot the missiles as they are launched, would of necessity be a relatively low altitude orbital "Constellation" which you referred to, but what many people forget is that only a geosynchronous orbit stays directly over head a given location/area and that orbit is VERY high indeed, far too far away to be of any value in such an interception with any kind of missile or railgun. Laser, punching through that much atmosphere creates a lot of problems and challenges too, especially to provide enough energy to disable an actual missile.
Any low altitude constellation orbits over everyone, every country, (even our own) and having anybody's 'shotgun' directly overhead, aimed at you all the time, creates a 'diplomatic challenge' to say the least. It would only take one space faring nation, such as China, to object to such an arsenal over their heads to initiate a true 'space war' where they would be motivated to start shooting down such platforms when over their heads. It would be hard to claim they were not provoked, just as any nation has the right to shoot down a war jet, or even a 'balloon' over their country.
Slowly, slowly it comes into focus why Elon Musk (who used to be a leading voice for renewable energy and climate change, before he went crazy) switched sides and made a pact with the devil.
Who's going to launch all these satellites, and to whom will we pay our "Netflix" subscription to keep our big, beautiful Golden Dome online? I donno. SpaceX maybe? Just wild guess.
Sounds like you're joining the Michael Wolff school of thought, that's it's all about the show for Trump. What do you expect from a reality tv star?
IIRC, Star Wars freaked Andropov out. He became all but convinced Able Archer in 1983 was cover for a preemptive attack. Oleg Gordievsky convinced the Brits, who convinced Reagan, that he really needed to cool it, which, thankfully, he did.
Amen!
Orange Dome wants Golden Dome nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…couldn’t resist, sorry
One thing about this column is it provides no illusion to what would happen if Trump and MAGA disappeared: You and Charlie Sykes and JVL and Rick Wilson, among many, would easily go back to the dark side. Back to welfare queens and Willie Horton. I'm for a strong defense but our current military budget is a trough for billionaires, just as as supply-side economics has been, as it destroyed the middle class and led to our third world level of income inequality. And the minority takeover of the government by "normie" Republicans - Citizens United, vote suppression, so many other things too numerous to list - was in play long before Trump.
We remain partners against Trump but I have no illusions about what happens if we somehow succeed.
So, you'd welcome the shift the Europeans are starting to their own defense industry, which will significantly starve ours in time. I do myself.