In an era when space and missile defense policy is increasingly linked to national resilience, the latest USC SHIELD engagement in Washington, D.C. brought those ideas straight to the USC Capital Campus. Against the backdrop of historic legislative buildings and 21st-century strategic competition, three student teams just graduated from the USC SHIELD Executive Program in Global Space and Deterrence last week presented policy-rich, analytically sound capstone projects to a room filled with experts from across government, industry, and academia. The event, organized and led by Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance Founder Riki Ellison, underscored SHIELD’s growing reputation as a pipeline for bold new thinking in national security.
Each team tackled a challenge that’s not only timely but deeply tied to current Department of Defense priorities, including the transformative new “Golden Dome” initiative for U.S. homeland missile defense.
One team explored the establishment of a Space National Guard—proposing a near-zero cost, low-disruption option to preserve critical space warfighting and Golden Dome functions while leveraging the Guard’s unique flexibility and geographic footprint. Their analysis made clear that delaying this action would not only risk degradation of key missions like nuclear command and control but also undercut readiness, retention, and access to proven community-based capabilities. Their solution? Codify the Space National Guard in law now, before momentum is lost and capability gaps widen.
Another team took a systems-level view of how the U.S. might achieve the ambitious aims of the Golden Dome Executive Order. Drawing comparisons to the Strategic Defense Initiative and Defense of Guam efforts, the team called for a single empowered leader outside of traditional acquisition bureaucracy to rapidly drive progress. They challenged the conventional focus on terminal defense, instead elevating space-based intercept capabilities as both feasible and globally deterrent. The group’s vision of a truly integrated architecture—connecting battle management, C2, and sensors—was cast as a “Manhattan Project moment” requiring unity of effort, mature tech exploitation, and bold leadership.
The third team focused on modeling and simulation (M&S), a crucial but often overlooked foundation for space and missile defense operations. They pointed out that the current Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) does not mandate M&S development alongside capability development, leading to costly delays and insufficient training tools. From AEGIS operations in the Red Sea to Ground-based Midcourse Defense and emerging space assets, the team demonstrated that inadequate simulation results in under-prepared warfighters. Their solution was policy change: require M&S plans early in the JCIDS process, tie them into digital engineering strategies, and use them to support iterative development and operational readiness from day one.
The event culminated in a powerful keynote address from Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, Director of the Missile Defense Agency, who shared the latest on MDA’s strategic direction, emerging technologies, and the importance of integrated defense. His remarks echoed many of the themes from the student presentations and drove home the urgency of preparing the nation’s missile defenses for the future fight.
This event served as a reminder that the SHIELD program—now in its fifth year— with 94 graduates, continues to bridge the gap between defense policy, engineering, and operations. A collaboration between USC’s Price School of Public Policy, Viterbi School of Engineering, and MDAA, the SHIELD program brings together top-tier faculty, senior civilian and military students, and high-level guest speakers to tackle real-world strategic challenges. It’s not just an academic experience—it’s a leadership lab for tomorrow’s national security decision-makers.
This event in Washington is indication, the future of missile defense and space policy is in very capable hands. And with the next SHIELD cohort already forming, one thing is certain: the ideas will keep coming, and the conversations will only get more consequential.
History was made yesterday.
