WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Golden Dome implementation plan is nearing final approval and may soon be briefed to members of Congress, but the Defense Department is making it clear that they intend to “rigorously” avoid sharing details on the program.

“The baseline architecture has been established, and the implementation plan is currently undergoing review,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Breaking Defense via email today. “The Department continues to keep our focus on creating peace through strength, by meeting the goals laid out for [the] Golden Dome for America program to protect our Nation.”

In late May, Gen. Michael Guetlein was given 60 days to complete Golden Dome’s baseline architecture, expected to influence everything from the interceptors used to down incoming threats to fire control integration. That architecture was delivered to Pentagon leaders in mid-September, and the next step was inking out an implementation plan that was first expected to be first signed off by Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg before making its way to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desk.

The Pentagon spokesperson did not disclose when Hegseth may sign off on the plan. Inside Defense was the first to report that the baseline architecture is set.

While the timing is up in the air, according to one Capitol Hill source, the department is poised to brief members of the House Armed Services Committee this week to talk details in a classified setting. After publication, a House source said that the briefing could happen as soon as today.

Days after taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump inked an executive order for greater investments for a multilayered homeland air defense system, including a requirement for the development of space-based interceptors. That was later rebranded as Golden Dome and handed over to Guetlein to manage, with much fanfare.

But since then, the department has been putting the brakes on the flow of public information around the program, cancelling events and limiting public statements on the topic.

“Recognizing adversaries’ intent to exploit Golden Dome’s breakthroughs, we are rigorously protecting America’s strategic advantages inherent in this program,” the spokesperson said today.

Not everyone agrees that secrecy is the best path. Tom Karako, a missile defense expert with Center for Strategic and International Studies, argued in a Monday oped with Breaking Defense that if the Pentagon does not start explaining Golden Dome, it will never be built. Contractors, he argued, are wasting time “guessing instead of building” on a concept Trump wants fully operational by January 2029.

“The main problem is that a gag order precludes virtually any discussion of the initiative, even to Congress,” he wrote. “A security and classification guide has still not been finalized. Despite its presidential mandate, ‘Golden Dome’ are words that must not be spoken.”

During a Wednesday CSIS event, Karako said that when baseline architecture details actually become public, he anticipates Golden Dome will be less ambitious than expected.

“I predict that what you’re going to see is something that is far more… limited, both in terms of the number of threats that are feasibly able to be stopped, and also in terms of the area that [can be] defended against…especially aerial threats,” he said.

Theresa Hitchens contributed to this report.

Updated 11/20/25 at 12:28 pm with new information from a House source.