U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (L) and U.S. Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, participate in an announcement by President Donald Trump about moving forward with the Golden Dome at the White House in Washington in May 2025. File Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo
WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump's move to build a national missile defense system would leave millions of Americans vulnerable to nuclear attack despite the program's exorbitant cost, the author of a new scientific report said at a press conference Tuesday outside the U.S. Capitol.
The report simulated a "best case scenario" in which the Golden Dome system shot down 80% of incoming missiles, said Ira Helfand, the report's main author and a co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an anti-nuclear weapons organization.
Under those circumstances, more than 300 warheads still would reach the United States, the report found, and that Russia would have a 95% chance of being able to destroy any one of 132 major population centers in which a combined 75 million Americans live.
"Let's be clear what Golden Dome is: a vanity project of one person, Donald Trump," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., using Trump's chosen moniker for the missile defense system. McGovern was one of two Massachusetts lawmakers who led the press event.
