If you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken, you certainly shouldn’t fix what’s working very well. This is especially true when the imprudent change would risk the U.S. military’s prospects of victory in a future war.
President Donald Trump appears poised to make such a mistake by announcing the relocation of the military’s Space Command from Colorado‘s Peterson Space Force Base to Alabama‘s Redstone Arsenal. Pushing ahead with this would be a serious error of judgment that would bring immediate costs to Space Command’s operating efficiency as the centerpiece of the military’s space operations.
As the Defense Department noted, “U.S. Space Command is responsible for delivering space capabilities to joint and combined forces and protecting and defending the space domain.” This is a crucial responsibility in an era where communications, weapons systems, and numerous other things depend on freedom of action in space. Why Trump thinks there is any practical benefit in moving Space Command is unclear, and perhaps does not exist.
Certainly, he has been pressed heavily by Alabama’s sizable Republican congressional delegation. Its members understandably want to create jobs and bring investment to their constituents. It’s also true that a Government Accountability Office report estimated that moving Space Command to Alabama would save $426 million over a 15-year period. But this doesn’t tell the full story. Some informed estimates suggest relocating Space Command would end up costing an extra $1.2 billion.
A relocation as big and complex as this one would pose many known and unknown risks. What if some key members of Space Command’s large civilian workforce refuse to make the move to Alabama, as will surely be the case? How long will it take to rehire skilled professionals with top-level security clearances? What if new construction in Alabama is delayed or later found to be inadequate? These what-if questions demand attention because Space Command is already fully operational (two years earlier than expected) at Peterson Space Force Base.
As commander in chief, Trump’s first obligation isn’t to reward political loyalty from Alabama Republicans. Instead, it is to ensure his decisions maximize national security. On that criterion, it would be a serious mistake to relocate Space Command. You don’t need to take our word for it. Listen to what Space Command has to say.
In September 2023, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III testified to Congress that the head of Space Command warned him that moving to Alabama would “greatly reduce readiness and impose risk to the mission of the force.” This is understandable because a move to Alabama doesn’t make any sense from an operational perspective.
As the Washington Examiner editorialized in February, “Every one of the Space Force’s operational deltas is also based in Colorado. These are units that control the space-based systems upon which the U.S. military is so reliant. These are the units that defend America’s civilian space-based infrastructure against enemy attacks. These are the tip of the Space Force spear. Why increase the logistical and organizational challenges of a SPACECOM relocation when Russia is building nuclear-armed satellite constellation-killing weapons and China is building satellite constellations designed to eliminate the entirety of America’s GPS, Starlink, and military apparatus in one massive onslaught?”
There are other major benefits to keeping Space Command where it is. It is near the U.S. Air Force Academy, which makes it easy for Air Force cadets to visit its facilities and learn what it does. While Space Command is a joint force organization, formed from all branches of the military, the Air Force is the most important source of personnel and expertise for its operations. Colorado Springs’s advanced engineering and technical base also means Space Command can easily recruit new staff and contractors.
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Were it the year 1993 and thus an era of unprecedented global stability and American unipolar dominance, relocating Space Command would still be foolish, but would be ultimately compatible with national security. However, it’s 2025, and China is gazing across the Taiwan Strait, Russia is waging the largest land war in Europe since 1945, Iran and North Korea are refusing to surrender their nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and the revolution in quantum, artificial intelligence, and broader space-encompassing technologies is moving into overdrive.
To risk America’s national security because Trump wants to punish Colorado and reward Alabama would be folly.