This week, America’s defense priorities snapped into sharp focus.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee convened to address a rising threat in our own backyard—small, low-cost drones that are surveilling power plants, disrupting airport traffic, and bypassing traditional security perimeters. Just hours later, President Trump stood before the nation to announce the Golden Dome, a bold, $175 billion missile defense initiative to shield the homeland from hypersonic, cruise, and space-launched threats.

These two events are not just aligned in timing—they’re aligned in purpose.

Defending America Demands a Fully Layered Shield

President Trump made it clear: “We’re not going to let any missile—any threat—reach our homeland.” That vision starts in space, with a proposed network of hundreds of satellites designed to detect and neutralize missile launches before they breach our atmosphere. But it can’t end there.

Modern warfare is layered—and so must be our response. As we’ve seen in Ukraine and Israel, adversaries are deploying missiles and drones together to saturate defenses. These threats arrive in tandem, one fast and high, the other cheap and low.

Golden Dome rightly includes space-based detection, kinetic interceptors, and low-altitude missile defense. In today’s threat environment, that lowest tier must also account for small UAS—drones used to surveil, jam, or strike. That’s where passive RF sensing and electronic warfare capabilities come in.

Drones Are Already Here—and They’re Already a Problem

At Tuesday’s hearing, state and local officials testified about drones being used by transnational criminal organizations, adversarial actors, and in at least one case, an ISIS-inspired plan to surveil a U.S. military base ahead of a planned mass attack.

This isn’t science fiction. These aren’t hypotheticals. These are happening on U.S. soil—and they’re flying under the radar, literally.

Traditional radar wasn’t built to catch low-flying, RF-silent drones that cost under $1,000. That’s why passive sensing solutions like Hidden Level’s are critical. They operate without emitting signals, without interfering with civilian systems, and without violating privacy laws. Instead, they analyze the physical properties of RF emissions to detect drones and locate operators—fast.

Completing the Shield from Space to Street Level

The President called for a layered Golden Dome. The final layer is the ground layer—not just kinetic effectors, but smart sensors that tip and cue higher-level systems. This layer is what enables secure airspace where our most critical infrastructure—and communities—are vulnerable.

You can’t intercept what you can’t see—and drone threats are increasingly low, small, and silent. Passive RF sensing fills that blind spot. It allows agencies to monitor and respond to unmanned threats in real time—creating the situational awareness needed to secure domestic airspace without overreach or latency.

With passive detection in place, airspace security becomes predictive instead of reactive, enabling authorities to coordinate faster act earlier, and protect smarter. This is how we make airspace around critical infrastructure safe to operate in, safe to defend, and safe to trust.

Passive RF and EW sensors at the street level:

• Detect what radar might miss
• Operate silently and legally under Title 18 and FAA guidance
• Feed threat data directly to systems like Palantir via secure APIs
• Enable coordinated response across DHS, DoD, FAA, and state agencies

This sensor layer completes the shield from the ground up. It’s not an add-on; it’s part of the weave that makes the shield whole, ensuring that the system isn’t just layered, but connected—enabling secure, coordinated, and resilient airspace across every tier of national defense.

A Dome Is Only as Strong as Its Lowest Layer

From hypersonics to hobby drones, the threat spectrum is broad, fast-moving, and unforgiving. Golden Dome offers a historic opportunity to unify America’s defense posture—and if we want that shield to hold, we must make sure the fabric is tight at every layer.

Hidden Level stands ready to support this mission today. Our U.S. built systems are already deployed in airports, at military bases, and around critical infrastructure. They can be up and running in less than 24 hours. They’re compliant, scalable, API-ready, and operational now.

Let’s build the shield America needs—layer by layer, sky to street.

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