Although couched as a high-tech missile defense system to protect the United States from nuclear attack, President Trump’s “Golden Dome” system will actually lower the threshold for nuclear confrontation by kicking off an open arms race in space, and proposing to use it offensively, as well as defensively, to launch preemptive first-strike attacks against adversaries, as stated explicitly in the original Executive Order issued by President Trump in his first days in office.
Speaking to the press in the Oval Office alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on May 20, Trump stated:
“Today, I’m pleased to announce that we have officially selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system that will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.…
“Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space,” he said. “And we will have the best system ever built.”
