Space Command’s relocation moves one step closer after DoD report
The decision to bring the U.S. Space Command, and with it Space Force, is getting closer to reality.
The Department of Defense (DoD) released a report confirming an investigation into the decision to relocate the country’s space headquarters from Colorado to Huntsville was proper.
This comes despite objections from delegates representing several states who suggested the move was politically motivated.
The Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a statement asserting that the decision to move SPACECOM’s headquarters to the Rocket City was justified.
While DoD validated the move based on watchdog reports, a second investigation into the decision by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the choice of Huntsville was not politically motivated has not been disclosed.
However, local and state officials are convinced the current report practically makes the move official.
“This review confirmed what we knew all along,’’ Madison County Commission Chairman Dale Strong said in a statement. “The process for making this selection was fair and considered many factors – and at the end of that process Redstone Arsenal was always the clear winner for Space Command Headquarters. I hope we can now stop the second guessing and begin the real work to establish this new command here at Redstone.”
The decision to move SPACECOM from Colorado Springs to Huntsville was muddied when then-Persident Donald Trump said on a radio show that he “single-handedly’’ approved moving the space headquarters to Huntsville. The statement didn’t align with reports DoD and Air Force officials.
“Space Force, I sent to Alabama,” Trump claimed in August, 2021. “I hope you know that. [They] said they were looking for a home and I single-handedly said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama.’ They wanted it. I said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama.’ I love Alabama.”
Military officials had backed keeping SPACECOM in Colorado, but other factors led to Huntsville being selected as the agency’s new home.
“We found that the process Air Force officials used to select Huntsville, Alabama, as the preferred permanent location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters (USSPACECOM HQ) complied with law and policy, and was reasonable in identifying Huntsville as the preferred permanent location,” said the release from the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General. “We determined that, overall, the basing action process directed by the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) complied with Federal law and DoD policy, and the Air Force complied with the SECDEF’s requirements for the basing action.”
The DoD report, released Tuesday, included a section where the Secretary of the Air Force reviewed “the Air Force Basing Office’s analysis of the criteria of ‘Childcare,’ ‘Housing Affordability,’ and ‘Access to Military/ Veteran Support’ in the final location for U.S Space Command’s headquarters was also included, with Huntsville still remaining the preferred location.
“This is good news and reaffirms what I have already known to be true: that the Air Force selected Huntsville based on merit and that Huntsville is the best place for Space Command to call home,” tweeted U.S Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama).
Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth applauded the report that determined the best site for headquartering SPACECOM was sound and the selection of Huntsville over other locations was justified.
“For the past several years, the Alabama Military Stability Commission has worked hard to make our state the nation’s friendliest and most welcoming for active and retired military families alike,” Ainsworth said. “From professional licensing reciprocity to school choice options to access to well-paying, long-lasting 21st Century jobs, Alabama is continuing to fill the needs of service members and their dependents.”
According to breakingdefense.com, Huntsville placed first in metrics used in different studies that suggested SPACECOM would be better suited “way down south.’’
But, while Redstone Arsenal was picked over SPACECOM’s current home at Peterson Space Force Base and four other finalists, the process might not be over.
Michael Roark, OIG deputy inspector general for evaluations, told Breaking Defense that the OIG did not address the question of where SPACECOM HQ should be based; rather it reviewed the adequacy of the process vis-a-vis Defense Department and Air Force rules, and its implementation.
“We do believe there are some things that need to be finalized,’’ Roark told Breaking Defense, “before the final decision is made.”
If that decision is finalized as expected, construction of a new SPACECOM headquarters at Redstone Arsenal will begin in 2023 pending an environmental study.
Unless the GOA investigation uncovers information to contradict the DoD report the environmental study is expected to be the last step in finalizing the relocation.