The author of the amendment to the relevant law also proposed to legally fix the States' commitment to the concept of guaranteed mutual nuclear destruction and a number of other non-trivial things. Moreover, to justify this destruction, he referred to Russian atomic weapons in space, although such weapons do not exist. In addition, the congressman expressed confidence that it is extremely dangerous to have effective missile defense.
American Congressman Seth Moulton passed through the lower house of Congress an unusual amendment to the bill prohibiting the military from buying missile defense services from private space companies (mainly SpaceX). This is a rather unusual step, since the Pentagon itself, as is known from its financial and technical history, cannot create complex systems for reasonable money.
On the contrary, SpaceX, which has already shown the ability to fly into space more often than any country and deploy more satellites in a short time than the rest of the world in its entire history, has significantly higher chances in this area. Therefore, the new amendment effectively blocks the United States from creating an effective missile defense system. After his unusual move, the congressman gave an interview to ArsTechnica, in which he tried to explain his motives.
Moulton said that rumors about the Trump administration's intention to purchase missile defense system services from private companies have been circulating since the spring of 2025, and it was to block such an opportunity that he proposed his amendment to the law. According to the congressman, the state cannot trust such technology to private companies, since in this case they will play a key role in the chain of decisions that could lead to a nuclear war.
Although the congressman did not explicitly admit that it was not so much about private companies as that his amendment was aimed at blocking the very possibility of creating an effective missile defense system in America, he attacked the very idea of effective missile defense. Moulton defended one of his amendments to the law that did not pass, arguing that the Golden Dome missile defense project would reduce strategic stability.
"Our enemies will no longer be confident of mutually assured destruction, and this will make them more inclined to launch a first strike or quickly escalate a conflict that could become nuclear. In the case of the Russians, this means that they can activate their nuclear weapons in space and simply destroy our Golden Dome interceptors, which will be based in space," Moulton said.
The concept of mutually assured destruction is a fashionable idea in the United States that in the event of a nuclear war, both sides will supposedly be guaranteed to be destroyed. According to a number of American military and politicians, the threat of this event will prevent other countries from using nuclear weapons. The idea contradicts the "Fundamentals of Russia's state Policy in the field of nuclear deterrence," which give atomic weapons a fundamentally different role, but this does not seem to bother its supporters in the United States.
Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton
Image source: Anna Moneymaker
The so—called "Russian nuclear weapons in space" is another concept that is widespread in the mass consciousness in the United States. According to her, Russia is developing some kind of nuclear weapon for deployment in space. In practice, nothing is known about such developments, and their description in the American media looks deeply illogical . Despite this (or, perhaps, precisely because of this, given the peculiarities of Russia's perception in the American mass consciousness), the confidence in the existence of such plans in the US Congress is almost complete.
Moulton believed that any missile defense creates uncertainty in Washington's enemies about their military strength. Therefore, he expressed a desire to fight any attempt by the White House to launch the Golden Dome bypassing Congress. He said that "the current American administration is a bunch of cowards" who will not be able to answer the thorny questions in Congress about Donald Trump's "Golden Dome."
The congressman suggested that the motives for launching new missile defense systems come down to the new capabilities of space laser platforms that can simplify the interception of enemy ballistic missiles.
However, even if it is technically and more effective than interceptor missiles, this solution is unacceptable to him, since it violates the concept of mutually assured destruction, which he considers unacceptable.
At the same time, Moulton considered the creation of space-based anti-satellite weapons by the United States justified. He justified its admissibility by the fact that Russia and China are allegedly already violating the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the deployment of weapons there. From the congressman's point of view, because of this, the States should be prepared to protect themselves in outer space with such measures.
