President Donald Trump is mulling the appointment of a high-level Golden Dome czar, The Washington Times reported.
The Golden Dome is a proposed missile defense shield to protect the entire continental U.S.
A week after taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order directing implementation of the defense shield against ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles and other advanced aerial attacks.
The appointment of a Golden Dome czar would underscore the urgency and complexity of the effort, which will require the administration and government agencies to work with private defense contractors to design and build space-based missile interceptors and advanced command and control infrastructure, The Washington Times reported Sunday.
A czar could help deal with such issues as which agency or agencies will lead the implementation and operation of the system and how required adjustments or work-arounds will be handled.
"It needs to be a single commander who is empowered and charged with operating all the way from space-based capabilities coming after the homeland and all the way down to counter [unmanned aircraft systems] and everything," retired Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, who once led the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said Tuesday, the Times reported.
"If you bifurcate this with multiple commanders, we create bureaucracy; we create challenges to command and control and the decision-making process."
Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, vice chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, is under close consideration for the czar position, sources told the Times.
It was reported late last month that Republicans in Congress planned to introduce a sweeping $150 billion defense package that will give an initial $27 billion boost to Trump's Golden Dome missile defense shield and to bolster shipbuilding.
The measure, details of which had not previously been reported, would assist in the building of more missile interceptors and the purchase of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antiballistic missile batteries, according to a congressional aide. THAAD is made by Lockheed Martin.
Defense industry specialists have said the Golden Dome is necessary to safeguard the U.S. homeland, with national security experts generally agreeing that China and Russia have outpaced America in hypersonic weapons development.
"With China and Russia investing heavily in the capability to carry out such attacks, particularly on the hypersonic front, Mr. Trump is right: We absolutely need an advanced missile defense shield," said Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, the Times reported.
Reuters contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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