Decision to Move U.S. Space Command HQ to Alabama Expected Soon

The release of a report by the DOD Inspector General today likely is a prelude to a decision to move the headquarters of U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, AL. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), has led a bitter four-year battle pitting the two states against each other on a bipartisan basis. President Trump chose Alabama days before leaving office in 2021, but President Biden overturned it in 2023, keeping it in Colorado. Rogers vowed to get the original decision restored once Trump returned to the White House.

Today’s DOD Office of Inspector General (OIG) report looked at decision-making by the Secretary of the Air Force (SecAF), who nominally has the authority to make basing decisions for the Department. In this case, however, President Trump and President Biden were deeply involved.

Trump reestablished USSPACECOM in August 2019, temporarily placing its headquarters in Colorado Springs near other space components of the Air Force and later the Space Force while the Department went through a laborious process for deciding on a permanent home. A number of states made bids.

A few days before leaving office at the end of his first term in January 2021, Trump held a meeting with military and other officials in the White House and chose Redstone Arsenal (RSA) in Huntsville although it was then-SecAF Barbara Barrett who made the official announcement.

The Colorado delegation fervently fought the decision on the basis of “rumors that the Trump White House influenced the decision for political reasons.”  They appealed to Biden to reconsider. After more than two years of intense congressional debate and investigations by the DOD IG and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), on July 31, 2023 Biden decided it would stay in Colorado Springs. The announcement was made by the Pentagon press secretary.

Rogers vowed “this fight is far from over.”  In September 2023, he held a hearing where then-SecAF Frank Kendall acknowledged he thought he’d be the one making the decision, but Biden decided to do it. Kendall said he favored Huntsville. Gen. James Dickinson, USSPACECOM Commander at the time, also testified and said he wanted to keep it in Colorado Springs.

Rogers demanded another DOD investigation and has said several times that once Trump was back in office, Biden’s decision would be reversed.

The DOD OIG report released today seems to be a prelude.  It is dated April 11, 2025, but apparently was completed over a year ago: “On February 29, 2024, the DoD OIG announced this evaluation.”

The report notes the SecAF did not make the final decision and that the Department of the Air Force (DAF) preferred Huntsville. The USSPACECOM Commander, however, wanted it to stay in Colorado due to concerns that many personnel would not relocate and it would take 3-4 years to build new facilities and establish secure communications with a consequent impact on readiness. The Biden Administration’s press release cited readiness as a factor.

“Locating Headquarters U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs ultimately ensures peak readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period. It will also enable the command to most effectively plan, execute and integrate military spacepower into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression and defend national interests.” — Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, July 31, 2023

The new DOD OIG report, however, says the DAF thought that risk could be mitigated especially considering that moving to Huntsville had a $426 million cost advantage “because of lower personnel costs and construction savings.”

The decision apparently turns on whether cost or operational risk is paramount.

The OIG’s task was to “determine the roles and processes of DoD leadership” in the basing decisions, but they were not allowed to interview the Secretary of Defense (Lloyd Austin) or the SecAF (Kendall). The Office of White House Counsel and the DOD Office of General Counsel wouldn’t agree to make them available “without DoD legal counsel present,” but the IG objected to that requirement.

U.S. Space Command is one of the 11 Unified Combatant Commands and is separate from the U.S. Space Force, a military service that is part of the Department of the Air Force.  Dickinson turned over command of USSPACECOM to Gen. Stephen Whiting in January 2024, shortly after declaring the command to be at Full Operational Capability in its Colorado location on December 15, 2023.