Lucas: ‘Golden Dome’ idea out of this world

“Star Wars would not have prevented this,” Mike Dukakis said.

This was in reference to the shocking September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorist airplane suicide attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

Star Wars was the name given to former President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 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 program will cost some $500 billion in the upcoming years.

Trump said, “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 1988 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 Trade Center.

We, like most people, thought at first that it was an accident. Then, 17 minutes later, the second plane on live television struck the South Tower. Some 2,750 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 technology could have done little to prevent the lo-tech hijacking of the two other planes that day, one that hit the Pentagon (184 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 potential 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 2023, gathering intelligence for a week under Joe Biden before it was finally 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 technology 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 most from the billions the government will spend on creating the Golden Dome will go to (surprise!) states that Trump carried in the 2024 election.

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 most from the Big Dome big spending are Alaska, Florida, Georgia and, by far, Indiana, all of which Trump carried in 2024.

Believe it when they say elections have consequences.

Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com

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