Colorado Springs officials are criticizing the Trump administration’s decision to transfer the U.S. Space Command from its temporary location in his city to Alabama, claiming that the move was based on President Trump’s “personal interest”, but Fox News learned that Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett made the final decision.
The U.S. Air Force announced on Wednesday that Space Command headquarters would be officially transferred to Huntsville, Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal, after an intense lobbying battle between six finalists – which included Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
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“We are extremely disappointed and concerned about the decision – and it appears to have been influenced by personal policies,” said Dirks Draper, president of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development, who managed the campaign for the city of Colorado Springs to maintain Space Command .
Draper told Fox News that the process was “unprecedented” due to the competitive nature of decision making.
“The military always makes decisions based on military criteria, which is compatible with military resources and alignment,” said Draper, adding that it would be “disruptive” to move Space Command from its temporary headquarters.
“We are in danger of interrupting the disappearance of the space domain guard by relocating it,” Draper told Fox News. “It makes no sense for them to go to another community and rebuild or duplicate the infrastructure that already exists here in Colorado Springs – there is no reason for that, from the point of view of logistics or national security.”
And Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers called the move a “politically motivated decision.”
“If analyzed objectively, in terms of the cost of movement and stability of Space Command and national security, it makes no sense – in the interest of national security or the American taxpayer,” Suthers told Fox News.
Draper and Suthers also told Fox News that the Air Force had advised Trump to maintain Space Command in his city.
But a well-known source told Fox News that the president left the decision to Air Force Secretary Barrett.
On Monday, Barrett, along with Deputy Air Force Secretary for Facilities, John Henderson, went to the White House to meet with the president and other senior government officials to discuss where the new Space Command home should be, said two. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the meeting.
The officials told Fox News that Barrett carried the “detailed analysis” that included the recommendation.
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“The analysis put Redstone at the top,” the official told Fox News about the Redstone Arsenal, located in Huntsville, nicknamed “Rocket City” for its association with space.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, US Army Missile Command and Aviation, USA. The Missile Defense Agency, as well as the Defense Intelligence Agency’s space and missile intelligence center are some of the space operations located in Huntsville.
The Saturn V rocket, which took the first Americans to the moon, was developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in the 1960s. The aerospace industry remained an important component of northern Alabama’s economy for decades to come.
But the prospect of leaving Colorado will not be an easy one for thousands of Air Force employees and contractors who have lived in the Rocky Mountains for decades. More than 18,000 people are based in the Peterson-Schriever Garrison suite, the current home of the U.S. Space Command, according to Air Force officials.
“Our space people grew up in Colorado, which is their home,” said an Air Force officer. “That’s where all of our space stuff is.”
The garrison brings about $ 2.6 billion annually to Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to the base’s website.
The official said that, in the short term, it makes sense for the U.S. Space Command to remain in Colorado Springs, but admitted that the facilities in the area are “very full”.
There would be more opportunities for expansion in Huntsville, another official told Fox News.
Another official added that some of the analyzes pointed to long-term gains for Air Force families in Alabama, including schooling and other areas of child development.
It may take up to six years before the U.S. Space Command finds a new home due to the environmental impact study that needs to be launched, says the Air Force.
The U.S. Space Command was brought back into existence last year for the first time since it was deactivated in 1982. Between 1982 and 2019, all Air Force space units were transferred to the U.S. Strategic Command, which commands the nuclear arsenal of America. Alert satellites detect missile launches worldwide and reconnaissance satellites routinely photograph military equipment from countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. Most Air Force space units are based in Colorado, where many lawmakers and Air Force chiefs expected him to stay.
Other finalists included Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado; Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico; Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska; Patrick Air Force Base in Florida; and Port San Antonio in Texas.
Sources familiar with the dynamics behind the scenes told Fox News that Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who until last week was the president of the Senate appropriations, made headquarters the main focus of his negotiations during the Senate appropriation process.
Representative Mo Brooks, in whose district the headquarters will be located, first Senator Tommy Tuberville, and Cliff Sims, a senior intelligence officer and former Trump adviser, also a native of Alabama, all made direct presentations to the White House and the Pentagon in favor of Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal, the sources said.
A source familiar with the situation also told Fox News that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, among others, made direct proposals to the president in an attempt to conquer their state headquarters.
The move to Alabama was seen as an early victory for Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., One of 13 Republican senators who contested Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
It is not clear whether the new Biden administration supports the move to Alabama.
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper ordered the Air Force to start from scratch with its assessment of finding a home for the US Space Command after its experience in finding a permanent headquarters for the Army’s Future Command. Some officials say a new Air Force secretary in the Biden government could ask for something similar.
But according to the authorities, no money has been spent to move the command to Alabama so far.
But Colorado officials told Fox News that their effort to keep Space Command in its temporary location “is absolutely not over.”
Draper told Fox News that he wants the Biden Transition Team to “be aware of this” so that they can “suspend, evaluate and reverse”.
Draper said he hoped Biden’s team “would suspend all future activities on this” and review the Air Force’s recommendations and “unchanged documents” while considering any “influence and impact the president had on the decision”.
“And if it is guaranteed, reverse that decision,” he said.
And Suthers added, “I would ask Congress and the next Biden government to dig deep, get the actual documents generated by Air Force personnel doing site selection work and then find out what the president’s role was in that.”