Colorado leaders on both sides of the aisle blasted the decision announced Wednesday awarding the permanent location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama, abandoning its current provisional site in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, in an afternoon press conference, said the move was based on “politics” and that outgoing President Donald Trump chose Alabama to reward Sen. Tommy Tuberville, one of the eight Republican senators who challenged portions of the Electoral College certification in Congress last week.
“There are a lot of indications that politics may have been involved,” Suthers said.
U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, sent a letter to President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday urging him to reverse the decision.
“I am disappointed by the horrendous decision to rip U.S. Space Command out of its home in Colorado Springs and move it to a new location,” Lamborn said in a written statement. “There’s no way around it: relocating SPACECOM will materially damage our national security. As we speak, our near-peer adversaries, Russia and China, are actively working to defeat our space capabilities.”
Lamborn said that the relocation decision is for “political reasons” and he vowed to oppose and fight the move.
At the news conference with Suthers, Dirk Draper, president and CEO of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, who spearheaded the city’s bid to the U.S. Air Force to land the command headquarters, also described politics as playing a role.
“If ever there was a Trumped-up decision, this feels like one,” Draper said.
Colorado Springs, home to Peterson Air Force Base, is currently the provisional Space Command Base, and it will be for the next five years, Suthers said. City, state and federal officials were under the impression that Colorado Springs would be named the permanent home.
The move to Alabama will cost taxpayers billions of dollars, Draper said, and the Colorado Springs area would lose out on an annual economic impact of $450 million. Eventually, Space Command would employ about 1,400 personnel at its headquarters site.
Gov. Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera on Wednesday released a statement contending Colorado is “the epicenter of national security space and the only permanent home for U.S. Space Command.”
“Reports that the in-depth military process found Colorado Springs to be the best location for military readiness and cost and recommended Colorado to the president only to be overruled for politically motivated reasons are deeply concerning,” Polis and Primavera said.
“This misguided decision would cost American taxpayers potentially billions of dollars and would be fiscally irresponsible if it is allowed to stand. We pledge to work with our federal delegation to restore integrity to the process as it unfolds. The work of so many partners in Colorado Springs and across the state has been critical to the shared effort to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado, and we are grateful for their partnership.”
U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper weighed in with a joint statement.
“We are deeply disappointed the Trump administration is trying to move Space Command from Colorado to Alabama,” the senators’ statement said. “We do not believe this decision reflects the best choice, or even a rational choice, for our national security and ability to confront threats in space. We are concerned by rumors that the Trump White House influenced this decision for political reasons.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said that Huntsville’s Redstone Region is set to house the headquarters for the newest U.S. military command. The governor said she was informed of the decision Wednesday morning. An official announcement was set for Wednesday afternoon.
“Our state has long provided exceptional support for our military and their families as well as a rich and storied history when it comes to space exploration,” Ivey said in a statement.
Huntsville’s nickname, Rocket City, is thanks largely to Wernher von Braun and his team of fellow German-born rocketeers who settled here in the 1950s. The city has long been home to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
“The bottom line is simple, the Redstone Region is the most natural choice to become home to such an important mission for our country,” Ivey said.
Ivey’s office said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Instillations Bob Moriarity called Ivey to inform her of Secretary Barbara Barrett’s decision over where the headquarters would be.
Other locations that were considered included Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado and Port San Antonio in Texas.
Suthers said Wednesday that, historically, decisions to locate bases and headquarters are made by military command, and Trump’s intervention should be reversed by the Biden administration.
Huntsville lacks the infrastructure and capacity that is already in place in Colorado Springs, Suthers said.
“I have said from the beginning, that if this was a merit decision, Colorado Springs would prevail,” Suthers said. “It is not in the interest of national security and the American taxpayer to move Space Command.”
Colorado Springs will file Freedom of Information Act requests with the federal government to learn more about the decision behind the relocation, and Suthers urged the news media outlets to do the same.
“Get those FOIA’s out,” he said.
