Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome program, addresses the inaugural Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick defense forum on Aug. 20.

While there has been criticism among missile defense advocates of Golden Dome's development pace after the signing of an executive order in January last year, Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, the director of the program, tried to counter that perception in a discussion last Thursday at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D. "It was not until July last year that they put in place the Golden Dome program office, and I was confirmed and allowed to start going,"…