The investigation will examine the extent to which the Air Force has complied with Department of Defense and Air Force policies in the selection process, used objective scoring factors to classify the six possible locations, and calculated the cost and other scoring factors accurately and consistently , Stone wrote in the memo detailing the work.
The Air Force was widely expected to choose to maintain Space Command headquarters in its current provisional location in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Representative Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Republican who called for the investigation a month ago, welcomed the announcement.
“It is imperative that we completely review what I believe to be a fundamentally flawed process, which focuses on grain counting rather than dominating American space,” Lamborn said in a statement.
He also requested a report from the Government Accountability Office on the “flawed methodology behind the process”, while appealing to the Department of Defense’s inspector general to broaden the scope of the investigation.
“I am still concerned that the strategic-based process appears to have suffered undue political influence,” he wrote in a letter to the interim inspector general.
Former Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett announced the decision to base Space Command headquarters in Huntsville on January 13, the day after the Air Force said it would leave his post before President Joe Biden took office. The Trump administration established the Space Force as the 11th combatant military command in 2019.
Huntsville was chosen from five other locations because it “compares favorably” on factors such as mission, infrastructure capacity, community support and costs for the Department of Defense, the Air Force said in announcing the decision.
“In addition, Redstone Arsenal offered a facility to support the headquarters at no cost, while the permanent facility is being built,” the statement said. “The Air Force Department hopes to make a final decision on the location of US Space Command Headquarters in the spring of 2023, pending the results of the necessary environmental impact analysis.”
Colorado Springs will remain the provisional headquarters until the Redstone Arsenal facilities are ready to support the mission.