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Golden Dome Secrecy Poses Challenge for Estimating Costs

The Pentagon has said it expects the program to cost $185 billion to build over the next 10 years, but think tank experts and government analysis have argued the bill for what Trump’s executive order articulated will likely be much higher. One of the first outside estimates, released last year by the American Enterprise Institute, projected costs ranging anywhere from $250 billion to $2.4 trillion. In May, the Congressional Budget Office pegged the program’s cost at $1.2 trillion.

COMMENT, by Alice Slater. Don’t forget that Russia and China have been urging us for years to negotiate a treaty to prohibit weapons and war in space which the US and our Peace Movement generally ignores!    Most recently, they issued a Joint Proposal on the 80th Anniversary of WWII last summer for more global cooperation., criticizing the Golden Dome and urging that we negotiate their draft treaty to ban weapons and war in space, pledging never to be the first to put weapons or war in space!!!   Why aren’t we all urging the US government and its allies in crime to take up this proposal and save one and a half trillion  dollars on the Golden Dumb!!  See Russian and Chinese proposal here:  http://en.kremlin.ru/supplement/6310 

Aug. 19, 2026 | By Courtney Albon, https://www.airandspaceforces.com/golden-dome-secrecy-challenge-cost-estimates/

While Pentagon officials have revealed some details about the architecture behind the Golden Dome missile defense project, crafting an independent cost estimate for a largely classified program remains a challenge, experts said Aug. 19.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January 2025 directing the Pentagon to build a multilayered missile defense shield to protect the U.S. from traditional and advanced missile threats, to include hypersonic weapons. Defense Department officials have said the system will consist of command-and-control nodes, satellite sensors, and ground-and- space-based interceptors, but the finer details of that architecture—including numbers of satellites and interceptors—remain shrouded in secrecy. 

The Pentagon has said it expects the program to cost $185 billion to build over the next 10 years, but think tank experts and government analysis have argued the bill for what Trump’s executive order articulated will likely be much higher. One of the first outside estimates, released last year by the American Enterprise Institute, projected costs ranging anywhere from $250 billion to $2.4 trillion. In May, the Congressional Budget Office pegged the program’s cost at $1.2 trillion.

These wide-ranging projections point to the lack of a common, unclassified understanding of what systems and technology will underpin the program, which experts said is the fundamental challenge of estimating Golden Dome’s cost.

Speaking at a Brookings Institute event, CBO’s Director of National Security Analysis David Mosher said the organization was tasked by lawmakers to put a price tag on the scope laid out in Trump’s initial executive order rather than try to estimate what the Golden Dome program office is actually building—an important distinction.

“The Golden Dome they’re building is perhaps different than the Golden Dome in the executive order,” Mosher said. “We couldn’t have costed what they’re building because nobody knows what they’re building yet.”

With the executive order as the baseline, the report constructed an architecture with the elements included in Trump’s directive and then sized it “to protect what we thought was a sort of plausible, relatively large attack from North Korea, or a modest attack from Russia or China,” Mosher said. The resulting notional architecture features four interceptor layers designed to target multiple missile types and to operate either independently or in concert with an associated command-and-control network:

  • A space-based constellation of 7,800 satellites designed to take out up to 10 intercontinental ballistic missiles launched near simultaneously as well as hypersonic glide vehicle threats
  • An upper wide-area surface layer comprised of three Ground-Based Midcourse Defense sites, each with 60 Next-Generation Interceptors or Ground-Based Interceptors focused on engaging ICBM threats
  • A lower wide-area surface layer with four U.S.-based sites, each equipped with 48 SM-3 Block IIA interceptors to defeat ICBMs or hypersonic glide vehicles
  • A “regional sector” layer with 35 interceptor and radar sites loaded with THAAD, SM-6 Block IB, and Patriot interceptors that can target ICBMs, glide vehicles, and cruise missiles

The space-based interceptor constellation would be the most expensive element of this architecture by far, costing $743 billion over 20 years, or 60 percent of the total cost. The report, which calls its architecture a “middle ground” between more limited and high-end alternatives, estimates each SBI-equipped satellite would cost $22 million and have a five-year service life. 

CBO’s report also includes the cost of a satellite sensing layer—which it projects would require about $90 billion to develop, field, and maintain—as well as the battle management and communication systems needed to coordinate the broader architecture. The sensing layer would include satellites such as the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, which the Space Development Agency is fielding as part of its low-Earth orbit missile-tracking constellation, and space-based air moving target indication satellites, which the Space Force is currently developing.

Golden Dome Director Gen. Michael Guetlein has pushed back on CBO’s estimates, saying they’re built on inaccurate assumptions about what his team is actually building. According to Guetlein, the report’s assumptions are based on technology envisioned in the early 2000s “for a different fight”—one focused on point defense, or defense of a limited area, rather than the regional, homeland defense mission that underpins Golden Dome.

“That is not what we need for the homeland,” he said in May. “In a regional defense, there’s a different architecture. And you can’t just take what we’ve done in the past and multiply it forward or you’re going to get large numbers like CBO got.”

Mosher acknowledged the report is detached from the program office’s architecture, pointing out multiple times that CBO and the general public do not have access to those details. He said CBO has asked for briefings but hasn’t been able to meet with program officials. 

“I know nothing about what they’re actually building except what I read in publications,” Mosher said. 

According to Guetlein, a key difference between the architecture envisioned in the CBO report and what the Pentagon is pursuing through Golden Dome is the use of “next-generation” technology like AI, advanced computing, and directed energy. 

Mosher said that for the most part, the report used existing systems as a baseline because they’re a known quantity. He said it’s true that harnessing advanced technology could lower costs over time, especially for some space-based elements of the architecture. However, other technologies like high-energy lasers in space aren’t yet ready for prime time, which means it’s likely not a near-term differentiator. 

“We tend to estimate what we see,” he said. “New technologies might provide the opportunity for that, I think we mentioned that as a possibility, but it’s not what you would have in the near term, which is what they’re trying to do.”

August 24, 2026 Posted by | business and costs, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ukrainian activist found guilty of high treason in political “show trial”

By William Briggs | 22 August 2026, https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/ukrainian-activist-found-guilty-of-high-treason-in-political-show-trial,21460

The fact that the Western world fawns on Zelensky and describes him as a champion of democracy and freedom must be challenged, writes Dr William Briggs.

ON THE 10TH AUGUST, a Ukrainian court sentenced a young socialist to 15 years for ‘high treason.’

He has already been held for two years. His legal team are appealing the sentence and is seeking support from around the world to both protest the sentence and to raise the issues of what was a “show trial.”

Bogdan Syrotiuk was found guilty of treason and yet the evidence presented in this “trial” was clearly political in nature and in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

His “crime” is that he resolutely stands against the war. The Ukrainian prosecutors manipulated this to mean that he was supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was shown to be a false accusation.

His was not a call for this or that country to prevail, but for a unity of the working people across national boundaries. His position was a principled Marxist position, and for that he is to be locked away for 15 years.

The case against him could not show any act of treason, espionage, sabotage or collaboration with any military force. The Ukrainian state’s case was based on what he had read and what he had written. In the end, the case was built around six articles published on the World Socialist Website.

The “subversive” nature of these six articles included what was described as a ‘non-recognition’ of the legitimately elected government. The prosecution also deemed that he had ‘compared’ the present regime with Nazis and fascists. He was also being charged with presenting ‘negative’ assessments of the armed forces and that he had been putting forward a ‘reinterpretation’ of national heroes and historical figures.

His defence argued that in reality there is no “legitimately elected” leadership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s term in office ended in May 2024. Elections have been indefinitely suspended and all left-wing parties and remotely progressive organisations have been effectively banned. Martial Law exists and every 90 days this Martial Law period is further extended.

How you can be accused of failing to recognise ‘democratic processes’ when they have been shut down is difficult to ascertain, but the sleight of hand in the Ukrainian justice system managed to do just that.

The issue of comparing the regime with Nazism and fascism was intrinsically linked with the charge of ‘reinterpreting’ the roles of national heroes. This is where the whole trial and the falsification of history that the regime has been engaging in assume a dangerous character and call into question the apparently blind support being given to Zelensky and his government from so many quarters across the world.

The national heroes that Bogdan Syrotiuk has ‘reinterpreted’ specifically relate to the leaders of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Waffen-SS Galicia Division. These were Nazi collaborators and war criminals. Among the very worst of these criminals was Stepan Bandera. The Ukrainian state officially observes the birthday of Stepan Bandera on January 1 as an annual day of recognition and commemoration.

None of that is in any way a secret affair. On the contrary, the Ukrainian government seems happy with such a past. What it is less happy about is a socialist anti-war activist reminding the world of that dark past and equally dark present.

It was only a few months ago that the Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked  Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle.  This is the highest award that Poland can bestow. Zelensky had given a serving Ukrainian army unit an honorary title that incorporated the name of the WWII fascist group, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The UPA was responsible for the massacres of 100,000 ethnic Poles.

Then, of course, there is the infamous Azov Brigade. It was, before the war, a neo-Nazi group and was taken into the Ukrainian army. The existence of the fascist Azov Brigade, which has received such “honour” in Ukraine simply attests to the truth that the young Marxist spoke.

At the time of his arrest, in 2024, it was claimed that he was acting as an agent of the Russian government. The absurdity of that claim was there for all to see. The articles he wrote and which formed the basis of the treason case repeatedly denounced the Russian invasion.

He clearly stated his opposition to the Putin regime. What he was saying and this needs to be remembered, was that he was seeking a cross-border opposition to both regimes and against the war, as it is the working people of both countries who suffer the most.

The Ukrainian court, referred to ‘socially dangerous consequences’ of the positions that the defendant held. From the perspective of the Ukrainian state this might make sense, but to call for an end to a war that was and is clearly not serving the interests of the people of either country is hardly a ‘dangerous’ concept.

Yuri Irkhin, a leading Ukrainian criminologist, in a report, found:

‘No statements, phrases, sentences, or word combinations that have signs of propaganda aimed at supporting the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.’

In response, the court ordered a new examination of the ‘evidence’ but still found no calls for the overthrow of the state, the seizure of power, subversive acts or the alteration of Ukraine’s borders. 

The trial and actions of the Ukrainian state led to an immediate banning of the WSWS website in Ukraine. Syrotiuk’s political documents and materials were destroyed. To add further insult to the process and to show how venal that process has become, he was ordered to pay more than 178,000 hryvnia or $5,600 to cover the cost of the forensic ‘examinations’ used to convict him.

His is not the only case before the courts. Thousands of “criminal” cases have been opened under ‘treason and collaboration statutes.’

The UN Human Rights Office has reported that it ‘continues to document cases of torture and ill-treatment’ of detainees held by the Ukrainian state. While this has been documented, little coverage is given in our media and virtually none in Syrotiuk’s case.

But then, there is a war in progress and sides have been taken. What passes for media coverage is painted, more and more with the brush of propaganda.

The tens of thousands of deserters who now face gaol sentences for opposing the war receive scant attention.

A 2025 Gallup Poll showed that 69 per cent of Ukrainians support a negotiated end to the war. In 2022, the numbers wanting to fight until victory were in the high sixty per cent range. Truth, however, is the first casualty of war.

The fact that the Western world fawns on Zelensky and describes him as a champion of democracy and freedom must be challenged. The sentence of Bogdan Syrotiuk is a gross injustice.

Supporters of Syrotiuk are still campaigning and an appeal is underway.

August 24, 2026 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The vast impacts of a dry Danube

By Victoria Heath, Geographical 20th Aug 2026

Emergency engineering works are underway in the Danube in Hungary to prevent critically low river levels from shutting down the nation’s key nuclear power plant, which provides Hungary with more than one-third of its electricity.

Due to extreme heat, the Danube has reached a record low this month – falling within 8 centimetres of its previous record low – impacting power production at the Paks nuclear plant. Typically, nuclear power plants are built near rivers and coastlines to use water to cool the reactors.

Two 80-metre (260-foot) barges in the river will be sunk by Hungarian authorities to raise water levels so that Paks can continue its normal operations. Currently, it is operating at just 25 per cent of its capacity.

The water is so low in the Danube that around twenty German World War II shipwrecks still containing live ordnance – sunk around eighty years ago – have surfaced on the riverbed.

‘European rivers are already sick,’ said conservationist at Riverwatch Ulrich Eichelmann. ‘This heat wave makes the damage more visible.’

According to the Hungarian government, plans to restore the water level of the Danube – Europe’s second-longest river – include building a submerged, dam-like structure in the riverbed known as a riverbed sill – a process that will take weeks.

Last week, neighbouring Romania shut down its last operating nuclear reactor due to low water levels in the Danube…………………………………………………….. https://geographical.co.uk/news/the-vast-impacts-of-a-dry-danube

August 24, 2026 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Building on shaky foundations – Whistleblower highlights serious safety and staffing concerns after Dounreay reorganisation

 
 John O’Groat Journal, By David G Scott – david.scott@hnmedia.co.uk, 19 August 2026

Serious concerns have been raised regarding safety governance, staffing levels, and workplace culture at the Dounreay nuclear decommissioning site following a major organisational overhaul.

A former employee at the site warned that recent reorganisations have eroded independent oversight, drained vital institutional knowledge, and created what they describe as “a perfect storm for a disaster.”

At the heart of the concerns is a major site reorganisation known internally as Fit For the Future (FFF). According to the insider, the restructure resulted in the abolition of the dedicated Health and Safety Assurance Department. Historically, this department provided independent checks on project governance, ensured compliance with safety procedures, and tracked lessons learned from previous site incidents.

“The assurance department’s role is to check that people are following procedure, learning from incidents, and maintaining governance,” the source stated. “These were independent people overseeing projects to ensure nobody was cutting corners. Removing that independent oversight leaves the site dangerously exposed.”

Critics within the workforce have alleged that the costly restructuring failed to deliver improvements, claiming that leadership roles were increasingly filled by managers lacking hands-on nuclear safety expertise.

“Egos are driving the leadership team,” the whistleblower claimed. “They have been promoted into positions not because they were competent, but because they were confident. They have people running projects who aren’t experts in the field and won’t listen to the people who are.”

The site has also seen a significant drain of experienced staff through voluntary redundancy schemes including the so-called mutually agreed voluntary exit (MAVE). Decades of operational knowledge built up by long-serving local workers have been lost, leaving remaining teams stretched and reliant on less experienced personnel.

‘I would be perfectly justified in sending you to prison’: Community service for man who ran amok with fire extinguisher at Wick hospital‘I would be perfectly justified in sending you to prison’: Community service for man who ran amok with fire extinguisher at Wick hospital

“I truly believe that a good lot of the people who left under MAVE were people who spoke up about concerns,” said the former employee. “They want people in positions who will just say ‘yes sir, no sir’ – they don’t want to know something is wrong, they want you to cover it up.”

This turnover has driven a decline in the proportion of Suitably Qualified and Experienced Persons (SQEP) holding technical management and safety leadership positions across the site, they suggested. “For positions where years ago you had to have specific degrees and years of hands-on experience, they have watered those standards down across the board,” added the source.

At the same time, accusations have emerged that experienced personnel who voiced concerns about safety protocols or restructuring plans were sidelined or encouraged to leave.

Reports also highlight ongoing workplace bullying alongside a management culture that prioritises public image over addressing root-cause operational issues.

“The bullying that goes on is swept under the carpet. HR know about it, but what they do is move the victim to another area and allow the bully to continue.”

Furthermore, critics argue the scheme represents a false economy, as replacing experienced staff with newer personnel fails to yield genuine savings once additional workforce numbers and extensive training are factored in to fill the capability gap.

Highlighting the practical impact of weakened governance, the source pointed to a recent incident in the site’s laboratories which resulted in staff being exposed to a chemical leak………………………………………….
https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/building-on-shaky-foundations-whistleblower-highlights-ser-442770/

August 24, 2026 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

DOE Again Denies Access to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) at Nuclear Weapons Facilities; Contact Your Elected Officials

Once again, the Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration has denied the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board access to nuclear weapons facilities, including at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). At a time when LANL is ramping up production of plutonium pits, the triggers for nuclear weapons, the DOE is restricting access to the Board and its resident inspectors preventing them from fulfilling critical oversight and public reporting responsibilities. As a result, the public is no longer informed about potential issues of adequate protection at defense nuclear facilities.

The Board provides oversight of DOE and is independent in the execution of its mission.  It is part of the Executive Branch of government.

Further, the five-member Board has been eviserated because neither the recent Democratic nor Republican administrations have filled positions on the Board. Currently there is one Board member, which means the Board cannot issue formal recommendations without a quorum – all to the detriment of the public.

The Board is governed by the Atomic Energy Act which requires that the Energy Secretary “shall fully cooperate with the Board and provide prompt and unfettered access to such facilities, personnel, and information as the Board considers necessary to carry out its responsibilities.” 

Based upon a lack of jurisdiction argument, DOE falsely claims that it has the authority to deny the Board access to facilities, personnel and information among other improper denials – again, all to the detriment of the public.

Get all the details at nuclearactive.org

August 24, 2026 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

The defense revolving-door, Silicon Valley edition

he Trump administration has installed a revolving door between defense-tech companies and the Pentagon.

An eye-opening glimpse at the links between two congressional committees and more than 100 defense contractors, consultants, and lobbyists.

By John Mecklin, August 17, 2026, https://thebulletin.org/2026/08/the-defense-revolving-door-silicon-valley-edition/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The%20defense%20revolving-door%2C%20Silicon%20Valley%20edition&utm_campaign=20260817%20Monday%20Newsletter%20%28Copy%29

ince President Eisenhower more-or-less invented the term military-industrial complex, US defense spending has grown, dramatically in some eras, leveling off a bit in others, but overall heading ever-upward. Annual US defense expenditures now approach $1 trillion—and, if the Trump administration gets its way, will head toward $1.5 trillion in the coming fiscal year. A variety of factors has driven this rise in defense outlays, but one has become persistent: the revolving door that some national service officials walk through to take well-compensated positions at private-sector military contractors and the firms that lobby the government on their behalf.

The phenomenon and its corruptive possibilities have been much-studied and widely criticized. US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the noted progressive, commissioned a report on the issue in 2023 with the withering title “Pentagon Alchemy: How Defense Officials Pass rough the Revolving Door and Peddle Brass for Gold.” The libertarian-to-conservative Cato Institute writes less compelling headlines (“Dealing with the Defense Industry’s Revolving Door in the 2027 NDAA”) but doesn’t like the revolving door, either. And in its 2023 report, “March of the Four–Stars: The Role of Retired Generals and Admirals in the Arms Industry,” the heterodox Quincy Institute basically supports Warren’s attempt to at least slow the revolving door via the “Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act.” Warren initially introduced the bill in 2019 and reintroduced it in 2021 and 2023, to no avail.

The interactive display below [on original] illustrates one piece of the defense revolving door as it has evolved over the last decade. During that time, former congressional officials have strolled through the door and wound up working not just at the largest defense contractors (often called “primes”) but also for a new class of high-technology firms—often involved in artificial intelligence and headquartered in Silicon Valley—that has aggressively expanded its Pentagon contracting efforts. And to be clear, the door leads in both directions; private sector bigwigs sometimes move into influential government positions that could affect the fortunes of their companies.

As UC Berkeley investigative reporter Bernice Yeung recently wrote for the Bulletin:

[T]he Trump administration has installed a revolving door between defense-tech companies and the Pentagon. The deputy secretary of defense, Steve Feinberg, is the cofounder and former CEO of a private equity firm that invests heavily in companies with Pentagon contracts. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology co-chair David Sacks is a venture capitalist who invests in defense tech. The country’s science and technology advisor, Michael Kratsios, was previously an executive at top AI defense firm, Scale AI. The armed services are also stacked with senior leaders with ties to the tech industry, such as Under Secretary of the Army Michael Obadal, an Anduril alum.

The interactive is anything but comprehensive. It looks only at members of Congress who served and top staffers who worked on the House and Senate armed services committees during the 2015-2025 decade. The graphic does not deal with defense-related political contributions, or with the many employees of the Pentagon, military services, State Department, and Energy Department who also rode the revolving door connecting government service to high-paying positions with defense contractors and the K Street firms that lobby for them. The interactive simply shows some of the ways in which the two congressional committees that deal with the country’s armed services are connected with private-sector defense contractors, consultants, and lobbyists. Even within this limited scope, the connections are eye-opening.

August 24, 2026 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear material found in Syria will remain in the country, minister says

By Reuters, August 19, 2026

 Nuclear material found at an undisclosed site in Syria was ​not dangerous and would remain ‌in Syrian custody, subject to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s guarantees, Syria’s foreign minister ​said on Tuesday.

Asaad al-Shibani added ​in a joint press conference with ⁠IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in ​Damascus that Syria had the right to ​use the material for civil and peaceful purposes.

Since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad ​in late 2024, Syria’s new authorities ​have committed to working with the United Nations’ ‌nuclear ⁠watchdog to address the legacy of nuclear activities during decades of Assad family rule.

Grossi said the agency was ​able to ​access ⁠the site after the Syrian government notified it.

Syria is ​not known to hold operational ​stockpiles ⁠of nuclear material for a weapons programme, but Israel bombed a suspected ⁠Syrian ​nuclear reactor in 2007 ​in the country’s eastern province of Deir al-Zor.

Reporting ​by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Alex Richardson

August 24, 2026 Posted by | politics, Syria | Leave a comment