The American Iron Dome Is an Expensive Boondoggle That Won’t Work

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com

President Donald Trump wants to build an American Iron Dome. He even signed an executive order to make it happen. It’s a terrible idea, one we’ve tried before, and one that will make America less safe.

In this episode, Joseph Cirincione returns to the program to detail his personal history with complicated and costly missile defense systems.

It all starts during a snowstorm in 1982 and with the High Frontier
Zombie defense pitches
It’s almost impossible to knock a bullet out of space with a bullet
How Israel’s Iron Dome works
Slow and hot vs fast and cold
Lasers don’t work, thanks Teller
Pitch: lasers in space. Reality: missile batteries in Alaska
These systems only work half the time and only under perfect conditions
SpaceX contracts abound!
A Pentagon Powerpoint slide enters chat
Jason’s Superman reverie, starring Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
How do China and Russia react?
“The enemy gets a vote.”
The last arms control treaty
Ronald Reagan: anti-nuclear advocate
How SDI kept us from eliminating nuclear weapons
Anatomy of an arms race
AI is coming to nuclear command and control

Project 2025 and Trump Are Cooking Up a Recipe for a New Nuclear Arms Race

The Iron Dome for America Executive Order

The national missile defense fantasy—again

Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture

Why the US General In Charge of Nuclear Weapons Said He Needs AI

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love this podcast?
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0:05.4	It's up to you how much you give, and there's no regular commitment.
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0:15.4	Acast recommends.
0:17.6	Calling all holiday lovers, welcome to Passports Please, the podcast that hacks your holidays.
0:22.4	I'm Chelsea, also known as the cheap holiday expert online.
0:25.3	And I'm James, the one that just loves a holiday.
0:27.8	Fancy, finding out how to blag your way through a city break without a plan?
0:31.5	Covered.
0:32.2	Wondering what you should do if you ever forget your passport?
0:34.9	Speaking from experience, James.
0:36.6	No comment.
0:37.6	So grab your headphones and your carry-on and let's make your next trip unforgettable for the right reasons.
0:43.4	Passports, please, is available to listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:48.9	ACAS is the home of podcasting, including such shows as,
0:52.4	the logbooks, the high performance podcast and the one you're listening to right now.
1:01.0	It really is amazing to see these, you know, proposals, these reports, these conservative proponents of the system come up and say the same thing, decade after decade.
1:19.0	And nothing works, but that doesn't dissuade them from dusting it off.
1:23.3	And what you have with the Iron Dome for America proposal is basically the system that
1:28.7	High Frontier was proposing back in 82 that the SDI system devolved into by 1980s.
1:40.1	I wrote a report for the House Democratic Caucus on this system that was then called a strategic defense system.
	...

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