Pentagon Frets Over ‘A House of Dynamite’ Doomsday Scenario

The plot of A House of Dynamite, the new thriller from Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, hinges on — spoiler alert — US missile defenses failing to knock down a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile headed for Chicago.

The Pentagon agency responsible for the more than $50 billion system of ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California designed to avoid just such a scenario isn’t happy about it. The movie, starring Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, had a limited theater release and is now streaming on Netflix.

A Missile Defense Agency internal memorandum argues that the doomsday scenario depicted in the ...