A House of Dynamite Explodes the Missile Defense Myth

Spoiler alert: There are no villains. Everyone is acting out their assigned roles, adhering to established procedures. Much as she did in her hit film The Hurt Locker, Bigelow provides brief backstories for each of the main figures, grounding this extraordinary situation in the mundane drama of relationships, the humdrum of a White House job and the grind of military duty. The secretary of defense is grieving the recent death of his wife. A deputy national security adviser is stuck in traffic and late for work. The president is shooting jump shots with WNBA star Angel Reese to promote youth sports. A major is arguing on a phone call as he walks into the interceptor launch control room, expecting another boring day. That is what makes the developing crisis so horrifying. Problems that seemed important a minute ago disappear in the growing realization that the unimaginable is happening.

But the “star” of the film has to be the ground-based interceptors, or GBI, that officials rely on to destroy the incoming missile. The film opens at Fort Greeley, Alaska, where the majority of the 44 U.S. interceptors are based. When they are launched at the incoming warhead, both operators and senior officials are confident they will work. This too is highly accurate. “We are confident in our ability to defend the homeland against current missile threats by rogue states,” then–Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Robert Soofer assured us in a 2020 article arguing for more funding. “During this time of uncertainty, Americans should be confident knowing our country already has protection.”

But we do not. When worried Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (played masterfully by Jared Harris of Chernobyl and Foundation fame) is told that there is a 61 percent chance that the interceptors will succeed, he exclaims, “So, it’s a fucking coin toss?! That’s what 50 billion dollars buys us?” The first exoatmospheric kill vehicle, or EKV, fails to separate from the interceptor’s booster—something that has occurred three times in