The findings, which have now been reviewed by Colorado lawmakers, hint that a flawed process and not "key national security and cost considerations" may have influenced the decision to relocate the headquarters to a state that went red in the 2020 election. The decision was a surprise move announced during then-President Donald Trump's last week in office.
"We have said before that the U.S. Space Command basing decision was the result of a flawed and untested process that lacked transparency and neglected key national security and cost considerations," read a joint statement Tuesday morning from U.S Rep. Doug Lamborn, Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. John Hickenlooper and Rep. Jason Crow. "After reviewing the draft GAO report, we are even more concerned about the questionable decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama," they said.
Before Jan. 13, 2021, a yearslong quest by the Pentagon to find a permanent headquarters for Space Command appeared to be in its final phases, and its long-term interim home at what was then known as Peterson Air Force Base a shoo-in. The announcement that Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal had won out drew widespread confusion and pushback, in the Springs and from the state's elected leaders. It also triggered two federal investigations into the potential impact of political influence on a decision the ex-president said, seven months later during a phone interview with a radio show, had been made by him "single-handedly." His statement confirmed a January 2021 report by The Gazette.
The Government Accountability Office report should be released before the end of April. A report is also coming from the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General.
Last September, the House Armed Services Committee passed an amendment to the budget of the National Defense Authorization Act, put forward by Rep. Lamborn. The amendment, later scrubbed from the Senate version of the bill, would have prevented any preparation for the relocation of Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville until both federal reports are complete and made public.
Alabama is still cued up to become the new home of Space Command, as soon as 2026, but several hurdles still remain, including the results of an environmental review.
U.S. Space Command is currently headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, which last summer joined Schriever Space Force Base and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station in adopting updated names that embrace the space service branch.
In their joint statement, the group of congressmen from Colorado again argued for the logic of locating the headquarters in a place that already has much of the necessary infrastructure and workforce in place and in action. They argued keeping Space Command where it is now is more important than ever in light of current global events, and the prospect of the first ever war potentially fought in space.
"Putin's war on Ukraine and China's space expansion underscores the need for U.S. Space Command to reach full operational capability as soon as possible. We cannot afford any operational disruptions or delays to the mission currently being conducted at Peterson Space Force Base, which is why U.S. Space Command must remain in Colorado," the Colorado lawmakers said in their statement.
In an act condemned by the Biden Administration as "dangerous" and "irresponsible," last November Russia launched a "direct-ascent anti-satellite missile," blowing up one of its own satellites. The test scattered "more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris" through low-Earth orbit, potentially jeopardizing global phone, broadband, GPS and other vital services, according to a Nov. 15, 2021 statement from U.S. Space Command at Peterson Space Force Base.
In January 2021, one of those pieces of debris came less than 50 feet from pulverizing a Chinese satellite.
The lawmakers said they will "continue to work on a bipartisan basis to urge the Biden Administration to keep U.S. Space Command at Peterson. Colorado Springs is the best and only home for U.S. Space Command. We look forward to the report's public release in the near future."
© 2022 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
