By: Lindsey Toomer
A U.S. Department of Defense inspector general report evaluating the decision on where to house U.S. Space Command headquarters highlights the key points of contention in the selection process and why certain agencies had a preference on where it should be located.
The report found that while Air Force leaders decided Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, was the preferred location for Space Command because of cost efficiency, Space Command leaders argued Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, where the headquarters are currently located, made more sense for operational readiness and civilian workforce retention. The agencies also came to different conclusions around risk assessment and risk mitigation.
Space Command leaders argued that many of the full-time employees in Colorado Springs would not move to Alabama and would leave their positions. Constructing secure operational facilities in Huntsville would take three to four years after the final basing decision was made, the report says.
Space Command’s final location has been a matter of intense debate between Trump’s first term and former President Joe Biden’s term. Colorado officials expressed concern that Trump’s decision to move headquarters to Alabama was politically motivated, because he waited until after the results of the 2020 election to make a decision. Trump won Alabama, but Biden won Colorado. Space Command reached full operational capacity at Peterson Space Force Base by December 2023 after Biden announced at the end of July 2023 it would stay in Colorado Springs.
Then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall also did not announce a final location decision after the required environmental review in Huntsville was complete, the inspector general report notes. The report says that the Air Force secretary and the then-secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, were not interviewed by the inspector general, as the White House would not make them available without Department of Defense legal counsel present.
“A final location decision by the (Air Force secretary) would have allowed USSPACECOM to begin the process of relocating to (Redstone Arsenal),” the report says. “However, USSPACECOM continued to accelerate its approach of (full-operational capacity) at its provisional HQ location in Colorado Springs.”
Elected leaders weigh in
The report does not make any conclusions about which location would be a better home for Space Command, though members of Congress on both sides of the issue have claimed the report supports their state as the rightful location.
Colorado Democrats in Congress issued a joint statement saying the report confirms that keeping Space Command in Colorado is in the best interest of national security. That includes U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and U.S. Reps. Jason Crow of Centennial, Diana DeGette of Denver, Joe Neguse of Lafayette, and Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood.
“Any relocation of U.S. Space Command’s headquarters would threaten our military readiness, cost years of valuable time and resources, and result in an irreversible loss of personnel and expertise,” the statement says. “As our nation’s adversaries are rapidly developing their own space capabilities, we don’t have time to waste. The decision to keep Space Command in Colorado was the right one and will ensure continued operations to safeguard America’s national security.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, claimed soon after President Donald Trump won the 2024 election that the president would relocate Space Command to Alabama. Colorado officials in Congress from both sides of the aisle have opposed that idea.
Colorado’s Republican delegation in Congress wrote to Trump at the start of April urging him to maintain Space Command’s operational readiness in Colorado Springs, citing the area’s already robust space military infrastructure.
Republican U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs, Lauren Boebert of Windsor, Jeff Hurd of Grand Junction, and Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton issued a joint statement saying the report confirms that losing civilian personnel in Colorado “will significantly impact the full operational capability during a time when our foreign adversaries pose a real risk to our national security. We cannot afford to move backwards during such a critical time.”
“China and Russia have advanced the weaponization of space, and the national debt has increased nearly 30% in the past few years,” the statement says. “Transferring the Command at such a turbulent time would jeopardize our national security, needlessly put American lives at risk, and create an unnecessary waste of taxpayer resources.”
Crank’s district, the 5th Congressional District, is home to Peterson Space Force Base and Space Command.
In a statement, Rogers — who chairs the House Armed Services Committee — said the report confirms the Trump administration was correct in choosing Huntsville to house Space Command and that the report “reveals an astounding lack of transparency and accountability by the Biden Administration.”
“The fact is that the Air Force recommended SPACECOM HQ be built in Huntsville, that any disruption associated with that move could be mitigated, and that moving to Huntsville would save the taxpayer over $420,000,000,” Rogers said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, also an Alabama Republican, issued a statement on X saying Biden’s decision to keep Space Command in Colorado was “an attempt to further President Biden’s political agenda.”
*****
Editor’s note: This article was reported by Colorado Newsline and republished by the Alabama Reflector, both of which are part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity; and is published with permission on AlaDefense.com. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: [email protected].
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo credit: U.S. Space Command is provisionally located in the Hartinger Building at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs. (Photo via Department of Defense Inspector General)
Similar stories of interest:
