"The Golden Dome sort of re-orients our missile defence policy towards our great power competitors," Ms Bazylczyk said. Currently, the US Missile Defence Agency largely relies on 44 ground-based interceptors based in Alaska and California, designed to combat a limited missile attack. The president was referring to Israel's "Iron Dome" system, which the country has used to intercept rockets and missiles since 2011. Ms Bazylczyk described the Iron Dome as geared towards "lower tier" threats, such as rockets fired from Gaza or southern Lebanon. The Golden Dome would go beyond that, to detect longer range missiles as well, she said.