(Tribune News Service) — U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Wednesday why his department and the U.S. Air Force should stand by the decision to put the U.S. Space Command headquarters on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.

Britt spoke a day after NBC News reported that President Biden is preparing to reverse the decision to name Redstone the permanent headquarters for USSSPACECOM. The story said the president is planning to leave the headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., where the command was started.

“As the leader of the Department of Defense, I implore you to cut through the politics and make a final basing decision for the U.S. Space Command headquarters,” Britt said. “As you know, Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal finished first in both the Air Force’s Evaluation Phase and the Selection Phase. That leaves no doubt that the Air Force’s decision to choose Redstone as the preferred basing location was correct and it was done on the merits. That decision should remain in the Air Force’s purview.”

“Media reports have said that the president and those in the White House are preparing to prioritize partisan political considerations at the expense of our national security, our military modernization, and our force readiness, and for me that is deeply disturbing.

“When you look at this, you said earlier, in order to compete and succeed against China we must use all of our tools. When you look at that, we know those tools are there at Redstone Arsenal.”

Britt did not ask Austin to comment and he did not speak on the base location report.

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