The US Northern Command task force responsible for coordinating Golden Dome homeland air and missile defense capabilities has taken on a new assignment: helping develop the program’s associated cyber-defense capabilities.
Col. Kevin “Stoney” Stonerook, deputy commander of Joint Task Force-Gold (JTF-Gold), said cyber warfare has become a new area of responsibility for the unit. He described an effort to bring together companies, government agencies and other stakeholders to build a cyber capability for Golden Dome.
Stonerook later clarified that the task force’s cyber activities are focused solely on protecting Golden Dome capabilities from adversary attacks—not on conducting offensive operations.
A new command structure with a broader remit
JTF-Gold was announced in January, with few public details. The announcement said Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, head of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, would also lead the new task force. The two organizations are based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado.
The new unit is intended to improve the integration and coordination of the nation’s integrated air and missile defense enterprise. JTF-Gold was created after the US Space Command’s former Joint Force Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense was disbanded. That organization coordinated missile-defense capabilities across the joint force.
JTF-Gold’s current mission is to make Golden Dome for America operational for US Northern Command. The task force has about 100 personnel.
From planning to the first operational site
Among the unit’s early responsibilities is helping identify and develop sites for the program’s expansion across the United States, while integrating capabilities across Golden Dome’s multiple layers.
JTF-Gold has been involved in selecting and constructing the program’s first operational site at Fort Story, Virginia. Stonerook said the task force will play a similar role at future sites.
Several issues remain unresolved, including how responsibility for managing missile-defense assets will be divided. The former Space Command component managed all assets across the missile-defense system. With JTF-Gold now under Northern Command, officials must establish a new division of responsibilities.
The task force is responsible for asset management, but officials have not finalized which assets fall within that remit and which do not.
Three operations centers, with responsibilities still under discussion
In February, more than 300 representatives from across the Golden Dome stakeholder community gathered in Colorado Springs for an intensive planning session. The aim was to clarify who was responsible for what and identify outstanding questions. The meeting helped advance the program’s concept of operations and broader planning.
A further session is scheduled for the end of the month. It will focus on the respective roles of Golden Dome’s three main operations centers: Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases in Colorado, and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
Planners will examine how responsibilities should be divided, where overlapping duties may be necessary, and whether the organizations have the resources and capabilities required. Defining those boundaries remains an active issue for the program.
