After a new report from the Pentagon Watchdog revealed uncertainty behind the scenes, the fight over the US Space Command headquarters revealed uncertainty when selecting a permanent spot, leaving some key questions unanswered.
In a heavily compiled, 54-page report released Tuesday by the Department of Defense Inspector’s Office (IG), investigators found a break between then-Chief of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Army General James Dickinson.
The biggest concern over the moves discovered by inspectors was that around 1,000 private employees would not move from Colorado to Alabama, and that they would take up to four years to install the necessary facilities at Redstone Arsenal, putting space command preparations at risk.
The document is the latest in a base decision when President Trump chose Colorado for his Colorado headquarters, going back more than four years ago.
Trump, who reestablished Space Command in 2019, chose Peterson Space Force Base as his temporary headquarters. However, a few days before his inauguration, Trump chose Redstone Arsenal as a permanent location and announced that he had “on his own” to choose the location. Meanwhile, the Air Force has named its Alabama base the “priority location” of its permanent headquarters.
This decision was immediately attacked by Democrats. Democrats accused Trump of choosing Alabama for partisan reasons, as he enjoys more political support in the state.
However, a 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the administration’s process of choosing Huntsville, although not always transparent, is largely fair and consistent with military recommendations.
But former President Biden overturned Trump’s decision in 2023, and said Space Command would remain in Colorado after consulting then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and “senior military leaders.” Authorities at the time said ensuring that the Switch saves time and money and that its headquarters are operating without delay is a national security priority.
The choice called on Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, last year to ask the GAO and the Pentagon to investigate the Biden administration’s decision.
The new inspector’s general report found that the uncertainty about the location of the final headquarters was due to Kendall, who “did not announce a final decision” on the spot, even after completing an environmental assessment that dubbed Huntsville the “priority location” in September 2022.
Kendall continued to support plans to move to Huntsville in January 2021, but buildings in Colorado could not begin in Redstone without an official ruling from him in the lead-up to the July 2023 announcement.
In the same time frame, Peterson Space Force Base “continued to accelerate that approach. [to] “The full operational capabilities of space commands” and ultimately reached its status in December 2023.
The report also shows the split of what Air Force and Space Command officials prioritized in choosing their final location.
Air Force officials described the “costs to taxpayers as “priority ‘priority drivers'” for Redstone to become a permanent headquarters, and said Space Command leadership would “minimise risks to preparation.”
The report highlights that the cost of moving headquarters to Alabama will result in $426 million in taxpayer savings, with “reducing labor costs” and cheaper construction.
But staff at Redstone and Space Command told investigators there were several issues with the move, including the Arsenal facility and the IT network that lag behind the people of Peterson. According to the report, sniffing these areas is time-consuming and can impact operational preparation.
Additionally, the Space Command leader feared the potential losses of up to 1,000 civilians, contractors and reserves working at Peterson if the Command moved locations.
The Air Force admitted that “if civilian personnel were not relocated to the order, they presented a risk to preparation,” but authorities said Space Command could mitigate that risk. The report did not pay attention to what these mitigations were.
Dickinson told both Kendall and Austin in late April 2023 that its headquarters should remain in Colorado Springs.
The report does not draw any conclusions regarding Austin or Kendall’s decision-making process, as inspectors were unable to interview the two for the report.
The inspector’s general documentation has already left Rogers, saying that Rogers “discloses the surprising lack of transparency and accountability by the Biden administration.”
“After years of commitments about ‘due diligence’ and ‘careful consideration,’ White House political employees have cut out the Air Force and senior defense leaders and selected Colorado as the space headquarters site through Alabama,” Rogers said in a statement Monday.
Lawmakers in both Colorado and Alabama are continuing to follow the Saga closely, given Space Command Headquarters has an estimated $1 billion in annual economic impact and provides about 1,400 jobs.
Earlier this year, Ohio threw the commander’s hat into the ring. State lawmakers fired the gun to be placed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.
