REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (WHNT) — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to bring Space Command to Huntsville after President Joe Biden opted to keep the command headquarters in Colorado in 2023.
Following his presidential reelection, Donald Trump has been said to reverse the decision to keep Space Command in Colorado made by President Joe Biden.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5 Monday that Trump would settle the dispute as one of his first moves in office.
“President Trump said in the campaign that he was going to reverse that decision,” Rogers said.
In the radio interview, Rogers claimed President Biden kept the command in Colorado for ‘political reasons.’
“But I knew he would because if you remember, not only did Alabama win two nationwide competitions, but President Trump’s secretary of the Air Force recommended Huntsville, President Biden’s secretary of the Air Force recommended Huntsville, and then Biden took it away for political reasons.”
Despite the Trump campaign having said to continue with moving Space Command, the office of Rep.-elect Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs, expressed its opposition to the prospect.
“Obviously, I believe that if it’s down to military value, (then) Colorado is the place for it to be,” Crank said in a report by The Denver Post.
Huntsville was named a finalist in early 2021. Then, in 2022, the Department of Defense named the city as the “preferred permanent location for U.S. Space Command headquarters.”
The Rocket City finished first in both the Air Force’s evaluation phase and the selection phase, while Colorado Springs finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In June 2023, a U.S. Space Command General reportedly confirmed to Alabama politicians in D.C. and the Alabama Delegation Wednesday that the state is still ‘the preferred location for SPACECOM headquarters.’
Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, as well as Congressman Dale Strong, said the Alabama Delegation had a meeting with USSPACECOM Commander General James Dickinson, where they discussed the looming decision on Space Command headquarters.
In the meeting, all three leaders say Dickinson reiterated that Huntsville deserves to be the permanent location for Space Command headquarters.
Senator Tubberville took to social media saying “Enough is enough, it’s time to bring @US_SpaceCom home to Huntsville.”
However, come July 2023, the Pentagon released a statement that President Biden selected Colorado Springs as the permanent location for the U.S. Space Command Headquarters.
“Today, following a thorough and deliberate evaluation process, and after consultation with Secretary Austin and weighing the input of senior military leaders, President Biden notified the Department of Defense that he has selected Colorado Springs as the permanent location of the U.S. Space Command Headquarters. 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 Kendall, and U.S. Space Command commander Gen. Dickinson all support the President’s decision. Locating Headquarters U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs ultimately ensures peak readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period. It will also enable the command to most effectively plan, execute and integrate military spacepower into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression and defend national interests.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. General Patrick Ryder
Following this statement, Britt, Strong and Aderholt all released statements saying that the decision made by President Biden was the wrong move and said Huntsville was still the best place for Space Command.
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In September 2023, the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on the decision for Space Command about the decision to select Colorado Springs over Huntsville for the command headquarters.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the committee chairman, said the committee’s investigation determined that the justification of concerns about “operational readiness” as the basis for leaving the headquarters in Colorado is “just fabricated.”
