Alabama lawmaker intends to withhold funds for permanent Space Command HQ in Colorado
Mike Brest
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Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will work to withhold funding for Space Command’s permanent base in Colorado.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall; Gen. James Dickinson, the head of Space Command; and Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the Space Force, appeared in front of Rogers and his committee on Thursday in what ultimately became a contentious hearing.
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The controversy surrounding where Space Command’s headquarters should be based permanently dates back to the Trump administration and has angered both Colorado and Alabama lawmakers at different points as both vie for their state. President Joe Biden announced in late July his decision to keep it in Colorado Springs, Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the Trump administration to move it to Huntsville, Alabama.
Lawmakers from Alabama critically questioned the three defense leaders and accused the Biden administration of making a political decision not to move Space Command to Alabama.
“I’m going to ask the inspector general for the Department of Defense to investigate this,” the chairman explained. “In the meantime, I intend to work to make sure that no funds are authorized or expanded to be spent in Colorado Springs for building a thermal headquarters.”
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), the only member of the Colorado congressional delegation on the committee, welcomed a possible inspector general investigation, telling the Washington Examiner, “The facts and the truth is on the side of keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs, and any investigation, I think, is going to ultimately bare that out.”
Lamborn also noted, “There’s really nothing left to uncover because pretty much we beat this dead horse to a state of exhaustion” and said he’s “not sure that the hearing accomplished anything.”
Going forward with this plan to withhold funding “of course would be detrimental to the force,” Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. “This is a command that is on the forefront of protecting American interests and our allies all around the world and of course in space.”
Keeping Space Command HQ in Colorado would allow them to reach full operational capability, FOC, before the end of the calendar year, Dickinson said, whereas it would take until the 2030s for a new headquarters in Alabama to reach FOC, though it would save money.
While weighing the risk of relocating compared to the financial savings, Kendall ultimately decided it was best to move it to Alabama, while Dickinson came to the opposite conclusion.
“Ultimately, my view was that the decision came down to a judgment about the operational risk associated with relocating versus the reduced costs of the leading alternative of Huntsville, Alabama,” Kendall said in his written statement ahead of the hearing. “My assessment was that the projected cost savings together with the availability of potential mitigation measures outweighed the operational risks that had been identified. As the Combatant Commander for USSPACECOM, General Dickinson assessed these considerations differently.”
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“In my view, selecting Colorado Springs as the permanent basing location for U.S. Space Command best sustains our human capital investment, is fiscally responsible, and ultimately maintains our readiness at the highest levels while imposing the least disruption to mission and workforce,” Dickinson said in his written remarks. “This opinion reflects my long-standing views, which have not changed.”
Despite their disagreement, both of them, and Saltzman, agreed that Biden had the authority to make the decision himself and support his selection. The White House has denied that politics played a role in Biden’s decision-making process, even though Rogers alleged that his choice was a ploy to help his reelection campaign, to which Lamborn said, “There’s no evidence for that.”