A screenshot of President Trump’s press conference.
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COMMENTARY
By Troy Turner
It was a celebratory moment for Alabama’s GOP congressional delegation, and not even President Trump’s punchlines about Alabama and Auburn football could distract for long from his announcement of making Huntsville, Alabama, the permanent home for U.S. Space Command Headquarters.
The hard-fought political battle to earn the move from its current location in Colorado Springs was won after years of competition with counterparts in Colorado. It also came after multiple studies and investigations pointed to Huntsville as the most logical place to host it.
The impact?
Not likely the 30,000 jobs Trump mentioned, but almost 1,700 direct and about 3,000 counting support positions are expected to be created or relocated to Huntsville within the next five years as the move occurs, and more meaningful are the types of jobs and the prestige that comes with them.
Space? Let’s talk football first
There they were, Alabama’s Congressional Republicans standing in the White House, flanking the president of the United States along with his vice president and secretary of defense.
Trump heaped praise on them all, mentioning several times their persistence in calling and lobbying him to make the move.
He began, however, by turning to Sen. Katie Britt, standing by his side wearing her Alabama-red dress, and offering friendly condolences on the loss of her grandmother.
He then jokingly lamented with Sen. Tommy Tuberville about the tough season-opening loss Alabama football experienced with Florida State the Saturday before, apparently not remembering that Tuberville has a long record himself of inflicting loss on Alabama during his coaching days at rival Auburn.
“Tommy Tuberville, who’s a great coach… I won’t say anything about what happened with Alabama football this weekend, but you’re not used to that, right? You’re not used to that,” Trump remarked.
Actually, Tuberville kind of was. During his tenure at Auburn, his team claimed six straight victories over the Tide, from 2002-2007.
Tuberville muttered in the background, “Auburn won,” referring to Auburn’s season-opening victory over Baylor.
Trump: “Auburn won. That’s right! So you’re happy.”
And so began a White House press conference to announce the move of a major military command with SPACECOM HQ. It eventually would turn into an almost hour-long question-and-answer session regarding a slew of domestic and global issues, with Alabama’s congressional delegation still standing there all the while.
‘Mike Rogers… Where’s Mike?’
Trump turned to look for and recognize Rep. Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee and has remained since its beginning a driving force to establish and grow Space Force, and more recently Space Command’s home in Huntsville.
“Mike Rogers,” Trump said as he looked for him. “Thank you, Mike. Where’s Mike? Thank you, Mike, very much. You’re doing great, Mike.”
Rogers and Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) widely are credited with kickstarting and driving the push in Congress for Space Force, beginning in 2017. It was established, with bipartisan support, in late 2019 during Trump’s first term as president.
A point of clarity for those needing it: Like the Marines as a department under the Navy, the Space Force operates under the Air Force umbrella.
Space Command, meanwhile, works with all branches of the military, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, etc., and their various individual space commands, to oversee space operations as the overall top command.
Thus, the significance of having that command located in Alabama.
It’s a big deal.
Politics? Yeah, hard to deny
Including Reps. Barry Moore, Robert Aderholt, Gary Palmer and Dale Strong, “Thank you all, very much fellows. I appreciate it,” Trump said.
Noticeably absent were Alabama’s two Democrat representatives, Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures.
Sewell nevertheless released a statement supportive of the decision.
“I have been an outspoken proponent for bringing Space Command to its rightful home in Alabama, and I have repeatedly joined my colleagues in the Alabama delegation—under both Democratic and Republican administrations—to make clear that Huntsville is the best location based on the merits,” she said.
Although there are numerous sound reasons for choosing Huntsville for SPACECOM, Trump couldn’t help but injecting politics, including a dig at Colorado supporting mail-in voting.
“So, they have automatically crooked elections…. When a state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections, because that’s what that means. So that played a big factor also,” Trump quipped.
And next on the agenda…
He then returned to script, somewhat, teasing to yet another major military endeavor that most assuredly will involve Huntsville’s high-tech defense and industrial abilities: Golden Dome, a space and missile defense concept to protect the American homeland, using space assets as a trigger point.
“In Huntsville, SPACECOM will play a key role in building the Golden Dome,” Trump said. “As you know, that’s going to be a big thing. Everybody wants to be a participant in it. A missile defense shield. We’re going to be having a Golden Dome the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. The finest; the best.”
Back to the original topic, SPACECOM HQ’s move to Alabama, he started again with looking Britt as a “big part of it…. And really, everybody behind me was. Everybody would call me and lobby me. I said, ‘Katie, I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I know what you want.’ She said ‘that’s right sir, that’s what I want.’ And they got their way.
“So, I just want to congratulate; these are really special people,” Trump said. “They’re politicians in many ways, but they’re also great patriots. I think even more so than politicians. They fought very hard to get it, and it’s an honor to give it to Huntsville.”
Behind a secure wall
Before moving on to a long line of unrelated questions, Trump offered the Alabama delegation an opportunity to stand behind the presidential podium and each say a few words.
No politician in history likely has refused an opportunity such as that, and none did on this day.
Tuberville talked about the security and construction that is slated for SPACECOM’s new headquarters.
“We have the plans intact. It’ll be behind a secure wall in Redstone Arsenal,” he said. “We have 40,000 people there. We have the FBI there. We have Missile Defense there. We have NASA. We have Blue Origin. And we have SpaceX.
“It is the perfect place for Space Command.”
National security remains his bigger concern, he said, adding, “if I thought it needed to be someplace else, I’d be for that… if it would be better for the country…. But the best place for Space Command is Huntsville, Alabama.”
Britt acknowledged the political battles.
“This is going to be tremendous for the state of Alabama,” she said. “What we’ve seen through this process is the worst of Washington. We’ve seen politics get in the way of what is best for the warfighter, and what’s best for national security.
“The state of Alabama is about to show the country the best among us.”
She also alluded to the financial aspect of the move.
“We know the economic impact is going to be tremendous,” Britt said. “Here at Redstone Arsenal, we’re proud to house everything from the FBI to the headquarters of Material Command, to a number of things. We have NASA with Marshall Space Flight Center. And so this naturally fits with them.
“When you look at the decision metrics they placed in front of us, that’s why we ranked so high, because we have the resources necessary and the ability to build out quickly to meet the needs in front of us…. The people of Alabama are ready to get to work.”
Words from a Strong viewpoint
Rep. Dale Strong represents the Huntsville area and fought hard for his home district, but he, too, pointed to the move as something more important for the nation than just for Alabama.
“It’s not because it’s right for this or that. It’s because it’s right for national security,” he said. “We have the right people at the right place at the right time.”
Alabama’s military presence and defense industry continue to grow at a rapid pace, including:
— shipbuilding for the Navy and Coast Guard in Mobile,
— the prestigious Air War College and Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery,
— the addition of stealthy F-35 fighter jets in Alabama Air Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing,
— Lockheed Martin’s bustling, missile-building facility in Troy,
— Fort Rucker, home of Army aviation,
— and the high-tech booming city of Huntsville, just to name a few.
“Alabama is open for business,” Strong said.
Furthermore, he told AlaDefense.com in a later Zoom call, it is extremely economical for potential employees to discover the lower cost of living in Alabama, such as those SPACECOM civilian employees who might contemplate making the move from Colorado.
“You can put a lot more in your back pocket,” he said, referring to earning a paycheck. “I pay more for a one-bedroom apartment (in the Washington, D.C. area) than I pay for a house in Madison County, Alabama.”
He, too, looked ahead in anticipation of Golden Dome if it is implemented to Trump’s desired results.
“Space and missile defense – you look at what our community has been a part of since 1950,” Strong said, referring to the Rocket City’s storied history that began after World War II and includes building the rockets that took man to the moon.
“Go down the list of space and missile defense projects here,” he said. “We’re part of practically every missile project.
“The president mentioned today Golden Dome. We’re going to be right in the middle of that also, because of our talent pool, because of our education; and this is something we’ve done before. We know how to make a bullet hit a bullet,” Strong said, referring to missile defense capabilities developed in Huntsville.
“Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville, Alabama, is open for business.”
Alabama’s 300,000
And so ended the day after Labor Day, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, during Alabama’s day in the White House.
Colorado officials have vowed to continue fighting the SPACECOM move, but they do so with a president who has more than three years still to go in office, and a Department of Justice close under his thumb.
Oh, and with a president who doesn’t like Colorado’s mail-in voting.
There likely is no means of measurement that can adequately show the massive impact SPACECOM HQ and possibly Golden Dome could end up having on Alabama.
Looking beyond where the economic, civic and political impacts take place, however, is something more important.
The United States of America and all that we love about it is defended by many courageous, smart and dedicated people who fill the ranks of our military and defense industry that protect us. Wherever they work and wherever they fulfill their duty, they deserve our support.
Yes, including, the almost 300,000 of those military personnel and defense employees working in Alabama.
To them: Thank you for what you do.
To Alabama’s congressional delegation: Congratulations. It was a big win for Alabama.
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
Alabama’s congressional delegation with President Trump, Sept. 2, 2025.
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