The Air Force is postponing its long-awaited announcement whether to move the headquarters of U.S. Space Command to Alabama or keep it in Colorado while the service conducts "some additional analysis," the Air Force secretary said this week at a conference in Aurora.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said to expect a decision "fairly soon" after completion of additional review, according to a report by Military.com.
"I hoped to make a decision and make an announcement earlier," Kendall said on Tuesday at an Air and Space Force Association symposium. "We're doing some additional analysis; we want to make very sure we got this right and have a well-defended decision."
Kendall said the Air Force is conducting a "sensitivity analysis" — financial modeling that considers risks based on various scenarios — and examining whether to put a second combatant command in Colorado, which is already home to U.S. Northern Command.
The site's permanent location has been in limbo for more than two years since the surprise announcement in the waning days of the Trump administration that the headquarters would move to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., from its temporary home at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Colorado lawmakers cried foul, charging that the decision was based on political rather than national security reasons and spurring the Biden administration to commence a review process that appears to be ongoing.
In late November, Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, said a final determination was imminent, but months have passed without word.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, asked Dickinson in a hearing whether a move to Alabama would delay Space Command's reaching full operational capability.
"We're on the glide path right now, moving aggressively towards full operational capability in the provisional headquarters and infrastructure that I have in Colorado Springs right now," Dickinson responded.
Lamborn and other members of Colorado's congressional delegation have argued that moving the headquarters to Huntsville will be result in unacceptable delays in bringing the command up to full throttle — as well as incur significant additional costs compared to renovating a facility at Peterson.
That's one argument made in a letter sent on Wednesday to President Joe Biden by 94 Colorado officials, business leaders and military personnel, including Gov. Jared Polis, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, seven of the state's eight U.S. House members, legislative leadership and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers.
"Colorado is the best and only home for U.S. Space Command," the letter read. "Two years later, USSPACECOM has continued to prove its ability to ensure our national security in the space domain from Peterson Space Force Base."
Lamborn told Colorado Politics on Thursday in a written statement that he was concerned that the decision was dragging on.
“Every day the Air Force continues to delay the U.S. Space Command basing decision is another day that our space forces are unable to best organize to conduct space operations," he said.
"I am eager to hear from the Air Force about how the additional analysis they claim they are doing addresses the gaps from the previous basing assessment, specifically the time it will take to reach full operational capability and the readiness challenges the Command would face should the headquarters move.”
Hickenlooper said on Thursday that news about the latest delay in the decision-making process didn't change anything.
“Any objective analysis will show what we've argued the last two years: that senior military leaders identified Peterson Space Force Base as their top choice for Space Command’s headquarters," he said in a written statement.
"They did so because it will reach Full Operational Capability faster than any other location, cost less, and minimize attrition and disruption to the mission — all of which are critical to our national security. Instead of following that recommendation, President Trump put politics first and sent U.S. Space Command to Alabama.
"But Trump's decision isn’t final. We strongly encourage the Air Force to take politics out of the process and ensure Space Command stays in Colorado Springs — the best choice for military readiness."
