Trump’s ‘Iron Dome’ Must Succeed Where Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ Failed
The US has an opportunity and a responsibility to devise an effective missile shield to defend itself and its allies.
Second time’s a charm?
Photographer: Bettmann/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that the US would pursue an Iron Dome-like national missile defense system has taken a page from Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” initiative of decades ago. Like Reagan’s never-fulfilled plan for a system to “intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil or that of our allies,” Trump’s vision for “The Iron Dome for America” is both sweeping and challenging. It will face the same kinds of obstacles that confronted Reagan, who speculated in 1983 that it “may not be accomplished before the end of this century.”
Nonetheless, given the threats and opportunities created by revolutionary advances in technology and a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, the US has no alternative but to embrace what is rapidly becoming an existential challenge. How can that be done?