OPINION:
Thank you, Holly Bertrand, for stating the obvious truth: “Space isn’t science fiction any more. It’s the next battlefield” (“Golden Dome is the shield, Orbital Guardians the eyes,” Web, Aug. 25). This truism became obvious in the late 1980s to those working on President Reagan‘s Strategic Defense Initiative, but it has been resisted by multiple administrations. Now, at last, President Trump has proposed the development and deployment of a Golden Dome.
Another couple of truisms mentioned in the commentary are “Losing space dominance doesn’t mean just losing the high ground. It means losing everything beneath it, from everyday conveniences to national defense” and, regarding the interception of attacking missiles, “We can’t shoot what we can’t see.”
Golden Dome brings together the concepts Reagan introduced more than 40 years ago. He recognized that mutual assured destruction was a way of avoiding war between the major powers. More importantly, he recognized that a capability to intercept smaller attacks that might be launched by lesser powers or terrorist groups could reinforce deterrence. Sadly, his concepts were not pursued thoroughly, so we still lack the security SDI offered.
We have lost a lot of time because of the lack of foresight of successive administrations. We have to hope that President Trump can put sufficient emphasis on his Golden Dome concept that it will reach deployment.
STANLEY ORMAN
Rockville, Maryland
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