Lucas: ‘Golden Dome’ idea out of this world

Star Wars would not have prevented this Mike Dukakis stated This was in reference to the shocking September Al-Qaeda terrorist airplane suicide attacks on New York s World Commerce Center Star Wars was the name given to former President Ronald Reagan s proposal to build a high-tech nationwide missile defense system like the later Iron Dome in Israel The memory came back to me upon witnessing President Donald Trump s announcement last week of his Golden Dome defense shield designed to ward off missiles launched against the United States from anywhere in the world including from outer space It is expected that the effort will cost several billion in the upcoming years Trump revealed Once fully constructed Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from the other side of the world and even if they are launched from space and we will have the best system ever built I was with Dukakis the former governor and Democratic candidate for president at his office that day at Northeastern University where he taught after he was defeated for president by George H W Bush I was there to pick up the introduction to my book Rumpalla Rummaging Through Albania that he had kindly written As we sat there with the television set in the background the story broke about a plane crashing into the North Tower of the World Arrangement Center We like greater part people thought at first that it was an accident Then minutes later the second plane on live television struck the South Tower Certain people were killed America was under attack Both planes out of security-deficient Logan Airport had been hijacked by Muslim terrorists and there was nothing high tech about it which led to Dukakis comment about Star Wars The terrorists use box cutters All the Star Wars tool could have done little to prevent the lo-tech hijacking of the two other planes that day one that hit the Pentagon killed and the other that crashed near Shanksville Pa after heroic passengers fought terrorists for control Forty lost their lives This is not to say that Trump s Golden Dome is not necessary with feasible missile threats coming from adversaries like Communist China and Russia It is Recall the long delay in even coping with the wandering Chinese spy balloon that made its way across America in gathering intelligence for a week under Joe Biden before it was at last shot down If he could not shoot down a Chinese balloon in a timely fashion what would he have done with a Chinese missile The vast advances in device will make the Golden Dome more efficient and protective than Star Wars which never got off the ground in the first place But there are still box cutters around as well as thousands of terrorists walking around that Joe Biden waved into the country In addition by coincidence or by planning the states that will benefit greater part from the billions the administration will spend on creating the Golden Dome will go to surprise states that Trump carried in the referendum Needless to say high-tech but anti-Trump Massachusetts is not one of them Back in the day these defense contracts would have gone to well-established Massachusetts high-tech defense contractors and companies no matter who was president The late Sen Ted Kennedy and Speaker Tip O Neil made sure that Massachusetts had a seat at the table and was well represented when it came to obtaining federal defense contracts Those days are gone Sen Elizabeth Warren and Eddie Markey cannot even find the door let alone the table But Sens Jim Banks of Indiana and Dan Sullivan of Alaska could The states that will benefit largest part from the Big Dome big spending are Alaska Florida Georgia and by far Indiana all of which Trump carried in Believe it when they say elections have consequences Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at peter lucas bostonherald com