The chair of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has asked three senior Pentagon officials to testify on the Biden administration’s decision to keep U.S. Space Command headquartered in Colorado over a previous plan to move it to his home state of Alabama.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the HASC chair, said on Tuesday he’s invited Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Army Gen. James Dickinson, head of Space Command, and Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman for a public hearing to discuss what he said was a “politically-motivated decision.”
“When the Secretary of the Air Force finally made a decision, he upheld his predecessors’ decision to base U.S. Space Command in Huntsville, Alabama. President Biden then usurped the Air Force Secretary’s authority and named Colorado Springs the permanent basing site for U.S. Space Command in order to improve his political standing for next year’s re-election,” Rogers said in a statement. “We will get answers on President Biden’s political manipulation of the selection process.”
Biden’s decision last month to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where its interim headquarters have been located, reversed a Trump administration recommendation to base the command in Huntsville, Alabama (Defense Daily, July 31).
The announcement drew support from Colorado lawmakers, including Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), while Rogers said in a statement “the fight is far from over” and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, added the Biden administration “inserted politics” into the decision.
“The top three choices for Space Command headquarters were all in red states—Alabama, Nebraska, and Texas. Colorado didn’t even come close. This decision to bypass the three most qualified sites looks like blatant patronage politics, and it sets a dangerous precedent that military bases are now to be used as rewards for political supporters rather than for our security,” Tuberville said in a statement. “This is absolutely not over. I will continue to fight this as long as it takes to bring Space Command where it would be best served—Huntsville, Alabama.”
Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters earlier this month the department is now focused on “expeditiously carrying” out the establishment of Space Command’s headquarters in Colorado and refuted claims that politics played a role in the decision.
“Politics played no role in this decision. As we’ve talked about for some time, the Department of the Air Force has been doing a very thorough analysis and assessment for some time. And so, as you look back at this, it was a very thorough, deliberate process that was backed up by data and analysis and in compliance with federal law and DoD policy. Ultimately, a decision had to be made, recommendations were provided and the president made a decision. And that decision came down to operational readiness,” Ryder told reporters at the time
Ryder also noted Space Command is set to achieve full operational capability this month, after having reached initial operational capability in August 2021 (Defense Daily, Aug. 1).
“So they’ll be ready to operate now. And keeping the headquarters in Colorado Springs minimizes impact on operations and on the personnel transitions during a period in our country’s history that’s critical when it comes to space and the capabilities that are provided to our country and our national security from space,” Ryder said.