Sen. Deb Fischer, Nebraska Republican and chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, delivered a keynote address during the “Golden Dome for America” event hosted by Threat Status on May 13, 2025, at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, in Arlington, Va.
Over the last 40 years, and especially within the last decade alone, the space industry has grown exponentially. We can launch satellites into orbit at a fraction of the cost, and the pace of technology development for space-based systems, it is breathtaking.
While the details of many of our space programs remain classified, I’m confident that we’ve seen sufficient maturation in the space industry to take new concepts seriously. And while all this transpires in the executive branch, my colleagues and I in Congress are standing by to make sure that the administration has the resources that are required to properly develop and to be able to implement the Golden Dome.
One area that I am acutely focused on is protecting the Department of Defense’s access to electromagnetic spectrum, to protect it from those who would force the Department to vacate these critical spectrum bands.
President Trump’s proposed Golden Dome is simply impossible if the Department loses access to certain spectrum bands. In March, U.S. NORTHCOM commander General Guillot made it clear during a strategic forces subcommittee hearing that the Golden Dome will not succeed if the Department of Defense is forced to vacate portions of certain bands, such as the lower three gigahertz and most of the seven and eight. U.S. Base Commander General Whiting has concurred with that assessment.
For if the department were forced to vacate these spectrum bands, we would not be able to operate radars and sensors that are truly essential for missile defense. A missile defense system cannot hit what it cannot see. Neither can we simply replicate these capabilities in other bands of spectrum. It is not that easy.
The Golden Dome will need to provide comprehensive coverage. We cannot afford to have holes in our domain awareness.
Watch the video to see the full remarks.
See more on ’Golden Dome for America’ from Threat Status at The Washington Times.
