At missile defense conference, the first rule of Golden Dome is don’t talk about Golden Dome
The Space and Missile Defense Symposium organizer said the Pentagon asked them to shift discussion about the Golden Dome project to another event.
By Theresa Hitchens on August 06, 2025 2:09 pm
President Donald Trump makes an announcement about the Golden Dome on May 20, 2025. (Livestream grab)
SMD 2025 — The Trump administration’s Golden Dome initiative to create an all-encompassing air and missile defense shield over the US will be the most ambitious Pentagon weapons program since Ronald Reagan’s (ultimately failed) Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in the 1980s.
But discussion of the massive project has been greatly curtailed at a conference dedicated to missile defense after government and industry sources here said the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s (OSD) public relations team barred Defense Department officials and military personnel from discussing the planned effort.
“We can’t comment on OSD guidance to senior officials. We were asked to roll our Golden Dome discussions into the [Missile Defense Agency] Golden Dome industry summit following the symposium and we agreed,” Bob English, who runs the Space and Missile Defense Symposium’s media operations, told Breaking Defense at the annual gathering of Army, Space Force and industry missile defense experts in Huntsville, Ala.
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/08/at-missile-defense-conference-the-first-rule-of-golden-dome-is-dont-talk-about-golden-dome/
