Joe Biden has decided to keep US Space Command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a decision by the Trump administration to move it to Alabama and ending months of politically fuelled debate, according to senior officials.
The officials said US President Mr Biden was convinced by the head of Space Command, Gen James Dickinson, who argued that moving his headquarters now would jeopardise military readiness.
Gen Dickinson’s view, however, was in contrast to Air Force leadership, who studied the issue at length and determined that relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, was the right move.
Mr Biden they said, believes that keeping the command in Colorado Springs would avoid a disruption in readiness that the move would cause, particularly as the US races to compete with China in space.
And they said Mr Biden firmly believes that maintaining stability will help the military be better able to respond in space over the next decade.
Those factors, they said, outweighed what the President believed would be any minor benefits of moving to Alabama.
Mr Biden’s decision is sure to enrage Alabama legislators and fuel accusations that abortion politics played a role in the choice.
The location debate has become entangled in the ongoing battle between Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville and the US Defence Department over the move to provide travel for troops seeking reproductive health care.
Mr Tuberville opposed the policy is blocking hundreds of military promotions in protest.
The US officials said the abortion issue had no effect at all on Biden’s decision. And they said the president fully expected there would be different views on the matter within the Defence Department.
Formally created in August 2019, the command was temporarily based in Colorado, and Air Force and Space Force leaders initially recommended it stay there. In the final days of his presidency, Donald Trump decided it should be based in Huntsville.
The change triggered a number of reviews.
Proponents of keeping the command in Colorado have argued that moving it to Huntsville and creating a new headquarters would set back its progress at a time it needs to move quickly to be positioned to match China’s military space rise.
And Colorado Springs is also home to the Air Force Academy, which now graduates Space Force guardians, and more than 24 military space missions, including three Space Force bases.
Officials also argued that any new headquarters in Alabama would not be completed until some time after 2030, forcing a lengthy transition.
Huntsville, however, scored higher than Colorado Springs in a Government Accountability Office assessment of potential locations and has long been a home to some of earliest missiles used in the nation’s space programs, including the Saturn V rocket.
It is home to the Army’s Space and Missile Defence Command.
According to officials, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who ordered his own review of the matter, leaned toward Huntsville, while Gen Dickinson was staunchly in favour of staying put. The officials said Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin presented both options to Mr Biden.
The decision was good news for Colorado legislators.
“For two and a half years we’ve known any objective analysis of this basing decision would reach the same conclusion we did, that Peterson Space Force Base is the best home for Space Command,” senator John Hickenlooper said in a statement.
“Most importantly, this decision firmly rejects the idea that politics – instead of national security – should determine basing decisions central to our national security.”
Senator Michael Bennet said the decision “restores integrity to the Pentagon’s basing process and sends a strong message that national security and the readiness of our Armed Forces drive our military decisions”.
