Marketplace Tech With Molly Wood

Among President Donald Trump’s many executive orders is one calling for a “next-generation missile defense shield.” The White House calls this the Iron Dome for America.The order says it should defend against all sorts of missile attacks and include “space-based interceptors” that could potentially act as both sensors and weapons.It reminded retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Latiff of a Ronald Reagan-era program he worked on: the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, known popularly, and especially to its critics, as “Star Wars.”Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Latiff about whether the U.S. has the technology, money and time to make this grand project work. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.Robert Latiff: Yes and no. Yes, we do have sensor technologies. We have the launch technologies. Whether or not we have the technologies to lash it all together and make it work, I think, is an open question.Stephanie Hughes: And President Trump has compared this to the defense shield us