The Golden Dumb System

One of the ways in which Israel protects itself from enemies firing short-range rockets and artillery shells is a high-tech anti-missile system called "Iron Dome." The system is, apparently, relatively good at protecting Israeli territory* ... and has, of course, attracted the attention of Der Furor.

Earlier this year, Der Furor issued royal proclamation executive order number 14186 - "The Iron Dome for America," in which he directed the construction of a domestic equivalent of the Israeli system which he has since termed "Golden Dome."

Der Furor announced his plan in a throne room Oval Office news conference earlier this week, in which he claimed that the "Golden Dome" system, once operational, "... 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," and that he hoped to have it finished before he leaves office** at a cost of about $175 billion. 

Scientists who have studied the missile defense problem tend to use the technical term "bullshit" to describe the "Golden Dome" plan. Well, they don't actually use that term, preferring to couch it in more scientific language:

"Based on its detailed and careful survey of the literature and analysis of published work, the report finds that creating a reliable and effective defense against the threat posed by even the small number of relatively unsophisticated nuclear-armed ICBMs that it considers remains a daunting challenge. The difficulties are numerous, ranging from the unresolved countermeasures problem for midcourse-intercept to the severe reach-versus-time challenge of boost-phase intercept. Few of the main challenges have been solved, and many of the hard problems are likely to remain formidable over the 15-year time horizon the study considered. The costs and benefits of such an effort therefore need to be weighed carefully."

Der Furor has also probably slightly understated the price tag of his system. He claims it will cost about $175 billion over the final three years of his reign presidency, while a recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office put the cost in a range between $161-$542 billion over two decades, depending upon the eventual architecture and long-term operating cost. It should come as no surprise that the system will depend on a constellation of hundreds of satellites ... a clear business opportunity for Elon Musk's SpaceX firm.

In a perfect world, with a smoothly-functioning, adequately funded and managed government that had already successfully dealt with the immediate problems of health care, nutrition, education, immigration control and reform, and climate change, the Golden Dumb system might - just possibly - make sense. 

But I have my doubts, and so should you.

Have a good day, and keep a close eye on what this administration is doing as it engages in its daily sleight-of-hand approach to news management.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Which is, roughly, 448 times smaller than the United States.

** Given that he appears to have no plans to leave office, Constitution or no Constitution, this seems like a pretty open-ended deadline.