EXCLUSIVE Experts reveal biggest challenge to Trump's Canada-funded $175B 'Golden Dome' defense dream
When President Donald Trump first rolled out his plan for a new 'Golden Dome' to 'protect our homeland' he described it as a space age shield against growing threats.
'Ronald Reagan wanted it many years ago, but they didn't have the technology,' Trump said at the time, invoking Reagan's 'Strategic Defense Initiative or ' Star Wars ' missile defense system.
He even told Canada the tab would be $61 billion if they wanted in on the project.
Now, as Trump shuttles through meetings with G7 partners including Canada, some defense experts are questioning the origins of the plan and whether it can provide the security Trump claims.
'Trump thinks its cool. That's what's driving it,' Justin Logan, Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute told the Daily Mail.
'To me, the whole thing was undercooked,' he said.
The idea, at a time when global powers like China and Russia are developing hypersonic missiles while 'rogue' states refine their own missile programs, is to use a network of space satellites and ground-based sensors to identify and blow up incoming threats to the U.S.
It's a concept with considerable appeal at a time when Iran is lobbing missiles at Israel in response to a bombing campaign targeting their nuclear facilities and military leaders.
But key elements of the satellite role are already coming into question, following a report that SpaceX head Elon Musk's role is now in doubt.
Amid Trump's epic feud with the world's richest man, planners are now looking at a 'new framework' which would scrap the need for Musk's network of orbiting satellites. Instead the plan would be to focus on 'existing ground systems for missile defense instead,' according to one report.
Musk's company had been expected to play a vital role in launching space sensors and even armed satellites that could play a role in defense.
'The Trump Administration is committed to a rigorous review process for all bids and contracts, prioritizing the best deal for America and leveraging the most advanced and innovative technology. Decisions will be made at the appropriate time, based on thorough evaluation, and will not be previewed in the press,' White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told the Daily Mail amid the uncertainty.
There is already $25 billion for Golden Dome in the House tax reconciliation bill, but if Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill fails in the Senate, the program couldn't get off the ground. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is already demanding more spending cuts, as Trump seeks to win his vote.
It could be a heavy lift to really get the Canadians on board for paying for it. A new poll shows more than 60 percent of Canadians are against the idea.
Canada's ambassador to the UN compared Trump's call for Canadian funding to a 'protection racket.'
Trump had posted: 'I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State. They are considering the offer!' Trump posted.
'In another context, this would (be) called a 'protection racket,' Rae said.
Comparison to Isreal's 'Iron Dome' are proving inexact.
Wrote Paul Meyer, an professor of international studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia: 'The President seems to have failed to grasp that Israel's 'Iron Dome' system (which inspired his vision) has succeeded as a result of the relatively small size of its territory that has to be defended and the relatively slow re-entry speed of the short and medium range ballistic missiles it has countered.
'These advantages would not pertain to the territory of the US (let alone North America) against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with re-entry speeds of 7 kilometres a second.'
Joe Cirincione of the Center for International Policy called national missile defense 'the longest-running scam in the history of the Department of Defense.'
And even that system is experiencing occasional 'leakage,' with comparatively slow and easier-to-track Iranian missiles breaking through defenses to cause civilian deaths.
'The idea that you're going to model something on Iron Dome that's going to protect the us from Russia and China is just not a thing,' said Logan. 'In this case, it was like, Israel has Iron Dome. It's kind of cool. We should do the Golden Dome. And then a lot of people rush to fill the gaps without specifying what 'Golden Dome' was,' he said.
There are also questions about how it might alter Cold War calculations on deterrence. If foreign adversaries conclude the Americans think they are protected, it could put the US in a more aggressive posture – which could in turn motivate foreign adversaries to strike first before it is too late.
In what could be a telling sign, a senior administration official sketching out priorities for the G7 summit that gets underway Monday in Kananaskis mentioned trade, minerals, migration, drugs, wildfires, international security, AI, and energy.'
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