The Air Force is expected to decide where to locate the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command before the end of the year, based largely on national security and cost concerns — criteria that favor keeping it at its provisional home at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, rather than moving the entire operation to Alabama, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn's office said Tuesday.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall assured Lamborn in a recent conversation that he is giving serious consideration to questions raised by Lamborn and the rest of Colorado's congressional delegation, who have long urged the Biden administration to review a decision made by then-President Donald Trump near the end of his presidency to award the sought-after installation to Alabama, overruling a recommendation by senior military leadership that the site stay in Colorado, a spokeswoman for Lamborn told The Gazette.
Kendall appears to be receptive to arguments made by Colorado lawmakers that it would be significantly faster and cheaper to renovate and secure Space Command's existing facilities rather than to build the whole thing from scratch elsewhere, Lamborn's office said, possibly opening the door for the Biden administration to reverse Trump's decision or restart the site-selection process.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said Tuesday at a City Council meeting that he anticipates the White House will make an announcement on Space Command's ultimate location in the fall.
Speculation has swirled in recent weeks that an announcement is imminent following the release last month of a draft environmental review that found "no significant impacts on the human or natural environment” at any of the six locations under consideration, including Colorado Springs and Huntsville, Ala.
Colorado lawmakers, however, pointed out in an Aug. 12 public comment that the environmental review didn't consider simply renovating the building that already houses Space Command, Peterson's Building 1. They described the option as "cost-effective and less environmentally impactful."
The National Environmental Policy Act review is the last step required before the Air Force makes its final basing decision. The review period, including the chance to submit public comments, ended last week.
In addition to Lamborn, the top Republican member of a House subcommittee that oversees military space operations, the comment was submitted by U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Lauren Boebert, Ken Buck, Jason Crow and Ed Perlmutter, expressing "deep reservations" about the site-selection process and urging the Air Force to consider which site can reach what the military terms "full operational capability," or FOC, fastest and at the lowest cost to taxpayers.
“It is essential to public faith in the process that the Air Force conduct a thorough review of U.S. Space Command’s Full Operational Capability," the lawmakers wrote.
Reaching the status as quickly as possible is paramount, Lamborn and Crow said in a separate letter to Kendall sent on June 24 that cited a pair of investigations into the basing decision released earlier this year by the Government Accountability Office and Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General.
In the letter, Lamborn and Crow asked Kendall to incorporate recommendations made in the two watchdog reports into his final decision, including their conclusion that the initial decision didn't give sufficient weight to urgent national security concerns that could be addressed by standing up a fully operational Space Command in roughly half the time it would take to build it from the ground up.
"The DoD OIG report substantiated issues with the decision process, and specifically emphasized another criterion that was not adequately considered in the previous basing decision: the importance of reaching FOC as quickly as possible," the lawmakers wrote. "As America’s competitors rapidly advance their space warfighting capabilities, organizing our own space assets rapidly is of the greatest importance."
Other criteria related to reaching full operational capability include available child care, affordable nearby housing and access to support for military families and veterans, according to Air Force documents.
