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In one of his less noted but more baffling executive orders, President Donald Trump this week directed “our military to begin construction of the great Iron Dome missile defense shield, which will be made all in the USA.”

Like many people, Trump has been impressed with how effectively Israel’s Iron Dome weapons have shot down various rockets fired its way from Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and the Mediterranean. However, he seems unaware of a few pertinent facts:

• Iron Dome is unsuitable for U.S. defense needs (which is why we haven’t bought any, even though we have paid for many of Israel’s);

• The U.S. military already has plenty of weapons that can shoot down short- to medium-range rockets at least as effectively as Iron Dome;

• When it comes to protecting U.S. territory from missiles fired by such nuclear-powered countries as Russia, China, and North Korea (which is Trump’s goal in ordering this project), something like Iron Dome would have no capability whatsoever; and

• We have spent $400 billion over the past 40 years on trying to develop such a continental defense system, to very little avail.

Let’s take these points one by one.

The Iron Dome, first fielded in 2011, flies at roughly twice the speed of sound and is designed to shoot down shells, rockets, and missiles across a range of 2 to 43 miles. The missiles that Russia, China, or North Korea might fire at the United States fly at 10 times the speed of sound across a span of 6,000 miles. The task of........

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