A 1953 advertisement for the U.S. Air Force’s civilian Ground Observer Corps described America’s air defenses as a “ 10 mile high fence full of holes .” Seventy years later, the United States again finds itself unable to reliably detect and identify threats from the air. One need look no further than the 2023 Chinese spy balloon incident , the unattributed aerial incursions over Langley Air Force Base and other U.S. military installations at home and overseas , and recent reports of mysterious