Space Command headquarters to stay in Colorado Springs, Air Force announces

The Air Force has decided that U.S. Space Command's permanent headquarters will remain in Colorado Springs, instead of moving to Huntsville, Ala.

The long-awaited decision caps more than two years of wrangling by officials from both Colorado and Alabama after former President Donald Trump announced in the final days of his administration that the command's headquarters would move to Alabama.

Space Command is a combatant command established in 2019 that employs about 1,200 people from across the military services to provide deterrence in space, and, if necessary, to defend U.S. space assets. It is separate from U.S. Space Force, the newest military branch.

The move had been on hold since early 2021, pending completion of a review of the decision-making process undertaken by the Biden administration.

Members of Colorado's congressional delegation and other top government officials urged the president and Department of Defense to reconsider the move, maintaining the headquarters should stay at its temporary home at Peterson Space Force base in Colorado Springs for national security and fiscal reasons. Local officials and business leaders joined that call, presenting a unified, bipartisan front. 

Following a lengthy review, the Biden administration agreed, citing the Air Force's ability to reach full operational capability within a month at the Colorado location.

“After consulting with the Secretary of Defense and reviewing the advice of military leaders, President Biden has decided to establish Colorado Springs as the permanent location of U.S. Space Command headquarters. This decision is in the best interest of our national security and reflects the President’s commitment to ensuring peak readiness in the space domain over the next decade," said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson in a statement.

A senior White House official said the most significant factor Biden considered was the "impact a move would have to operational readiness to confront space-enabled threats during a critical time in this dynamic security environment. U.S. Space Command headquarters will achieve 'full operational capability' at Colorado Springs later this month. Maintaining the headquarters there maintains operational readiness and ensures no disruption to its mission or to its personnel."

The official added: "A move to Alabama, by contrast, would have forced upon that command a transition process between the mid-2020s and the opening of the new site in the early to mid-2030s. The President found that risk unacceptable, especially given the challenges we may face in the space domain during this critical time period. Locating Headquarters U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs ensures peak readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period."

Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon's press secretary, said that the president notified the Department of Defense on Monday that he made the decision after a "thorough and deliberate evaluation process" that included consulting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and senior military leaders.

"From the start, DoD and the Department of the Air Force have worked diligently to ensure the basing decision resulted from an objective and deliberate process informed by data and analysis, in compliance with federal law and DoD policy. Secretary Austin, Secretary of the Air Force (Frank) Kendall, and U.S. Space Command commander Gen. (James) Dickinson all support the President’s decision," Ryder said in a statement.

A pair of reports issued last year by federal watchdogs found "significant shortfalls" in the base selection process under the Trump administration but stopped short of recommending that it be reversed.

The Department of the Air Force said in January 2021 that an Army base in Huntsville had been chosen as the site of Space Command's permanent headquarters, but months later Trump said on a radio show that the move had been his decision.

Hickenlooper: Decision sends message that national security, not politics, drive military decisions 

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat who has advocated for keeping the command's headquarters in the Pikes Peak region, applauded the news in a statement.

“For two and a half years, we’ve known any objective analysis of this basing decision would reach the same conclusion we did, that Peterson Space Force Base is the best home for Space Command," Hickenlooper said in a statement.

“After two investigations and rigorous review by the Department of Defense, the administration has made the decision that’s in our country’s best interest."

He added that the decision "firmly rejects" the notion that political considerations should outweigh national security concerns.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said he and fellow members of Colorado's delegation have long argued that Trump's decision to relocate the headquarters was "misguided."

"Today’s decision restores integrity to the Pentagon’s basing process and sends a strong message that national security and the readiness of our Armed Forces drive our military decisions," Bennet said in a statement. "Colorado is the rightful home for U.S. Space Command, and our state will continue to lead America in space for years to come."

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, the nine-term Republican who represents Colorado Springs, said the Biden administration made the right decision.

"Colorado Springs has always been the legitimate home of U.S. Space Command’s headquarters, and I am delighted that today’s decision validates this fact,” Lamborn said in a statement. “I commend the Biden administration for prioritizing national security above political interests and keeping USSPACECOM in its rightful home at Peterson Space Force Base."

The decision, Lamborn said, "aligns with the best military advice of countless senior military leaders who all agree that Peterson Space Force Base is the most viable option for USSPACECOM to reach full operational capability the fastest and is the best permanent home for its long-term operations.”

Lamborn added that pressing national security concerns made the decision even more critical.

“We live in dangerous times and we do not have the luxury of starting over with the headquarters in another location," he said. "National security is too critical to allow for any delays.”

Alabama reacts: 'Shameful,' 'outrage'

Calling the reported decision "shameful" and an "outrage," Alabama lawmakers accused Biden of reversing Trump's move for political reasons, according to AL.com, an online news site based in Alabama.

“President Biden has irresponsibly decided to yank a military decision out of the Air Force’s hands in the name of partisan politics,” said U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican.

She maintained that Huntsville had finished ahead of Colorado Springs in the Air Force's own evaluation process and was the "preferred basing location."

U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, the Republican who represents Huntsville, said "[r]epeated investigations and objective reviews" have established that Huntsville was best location for the command's headquarters.

“It is shameful that the Biden administration is ignoring what is best for our nation’s security and is instead using their woke agenda to make this decision,” Strong said. “To this point, the administration has refused to answer questions brought forth by the House Armed Services Committee’s investigation of their actions in this process. If they think this will go away ... they are wrong. I will ensure they have to explain their actions and answer our questions on the record.”

The Gazette reported exclusively in January 2021 that the decision to locate Space Command headquarters in Alabama came after then-Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett traveled to the White House to tell Trump the Air Force had chosen Colorado Springs in response to an earlier, presidentially ordered process that discarded an earlier decision to keep the command, its 1,400 airmen and thousands of civilian workers in Colorado.

Trump, officers familiar with the briefing said, instead ordered the command to relocate to Alabama, a state represented by six lawmakers who objected to certifying the presidential election results. Alabama also had recently delivered Trump an additional U.S. Senate seat, with Republican Tommy Tuberville defeating Democratic incumbent Doug Jones — in contrast to Colorado, where Hickenlooper unseated Republican Cory Gardner.

“This is just beyond belief,” said one officer familiar with the decision who spoke with The Gazette on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal.

The basing decision has been subject to increasingly contentious political debate in the years since Trump left office and the Biden administration announced it was reexamining the process.

A powerful Alabama Republican in recent months has been using his position as chairman on the House Armed Service Committee to press the the Department of Defense to move the command to Huntsville.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers has held up hundreds of millions in military funding by blocking approval of a routine DOD funding request. The delay has hampered the Air Force's ability to reassign personnel and bring them back from deployment. Rogers also backed measures to cut the Secretary of the Air Force Office's travel budget 50% and halt any spending on the Space Command offices in Colorado Springs, including minor upgrades.

The Colorado Springs Chamber's point person on military matters told The Gazette that it would have been unprecedented to uproot and move a combatant command in the midst of current geopolitical tensions, including Russia's invasion in Ukraine.

"Our adversaries don’t put a pause on warfare to wait for us to move," Jessie Kimber, the chamber's vice president for defense development and a former naval intelligence officer, said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis celebrated the decision, calling it "great news for Colorado and our national security."

"This thoughtful and correct decision guarantees operational success for decades to come and improves our national defense," Polis said in a statement, noting that he "personally advocated" for keeping the command in Colorado with President Joe Biden and members of the Democrat's administration.

"I am grateful to the strong, bipartisan coalition of leaders from across Colorado who never wavered in our commitment to keeping Space Command in our state and national defense,” Polis added. “Colorado’s unique aerospace strengths provide the innovation and commitment to service necessary to ensure our national security, especially during such a critical moment."

Bipartisan battle to keep Space Command in Colorado 

Describing the decision as "strategic," Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora, the only military veteran in the state's congressional delegation, commended the administration for keeping national security interests ahead of politics.

“Politics should never get in the way of national security," Crow said in a statement. "The move to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado is strategic and in the best interest of military readiness and a strong national defense."

Added Crow: “Colorado is home to over a third of all space-related National Guardsmen and their families. Our highly skilled workforce, battle-tested operations, and secure infrastructure is the ideal home for U.S. Space Command and space-related operations."

Colorado's political leaders, who don't always agree on major issues, have approached the fight to keep Space Command in the state as a nonpartisan battle that united Republicans and Democrats alike.    

Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck of Windsor highlighted the bipartisan push to keep Space Command in Colorado.

"Our entire congressional delegation, both Republicans and Democrats, have worked together for years to achieve this important result," Buck said in a statement. "Colorado already has the pre-existing infrastructure, first-rate work force, private-sector support and communication platforms necessary to provide for our national security mission in space.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Lafayette said Colorado has "the ideal ecosystem" for supporting the command headquarters.

"Our state is home to the nation’s leading scientific laboratories and research institutions — in fact, it has the highest concentration of federal research labs outside of the Washington D.C. area," Neguse said in a statement. "In addition, Colorado also has the second-largest aerospace economy and an aerospace workforce that has grown by 30% over the last five years. Put simply, this decision puts our national security, innovation, and the service members and civilians who serve at Space Command, first."

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Silt said in a release that Colorado was Space Command's "rightful home," noting that she worked across the aisle with the rest of the delegation to "set politics aside and put Colorado first."

"When Russia and China are developing lasers to destroy U.S. satellites, we should not be wasting time considering moving Space Command’s headquarters for political reasons," Boebert said.