The east gate at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, Nov. 13, 2024. U.S. Space Command is headquartered in Colorado Springs, with area personnel working out of Peterson SFB and Schriever SFB. (Jazmin Smith/U.S. Space Force)
(Tribune News Service) — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said on a podcast Wednesday he expects an official announcement later this month that Space Command will move to his home state of Alabama, prompting swift pushback from Colorado House Republicans.
It is the latest in a yearslong tussle between Huntsville, Ala., and Colorado Springs over the command, a battle some thought was over when President Joe Biden made the decision to leave the command in Colorado in 2023.
The Colorado lawmakers emphasized that as Russia and China have made significant investments in space, keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs is vital for national security.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs, was among the lawmakers on a call Thursday morning talking about efforts to keep the command, which is in charge of protecting and defending the area that starts 62 miles above the earth.
“I have asked many of our senior leaders what is the military value of moving Space Command and point-blank they say, there isn’t any,” Crank said.
Space Command employs about 1,700 service members from across the military branches in those efforts.
Those people work in areas such as weather monitoring; space control; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; position, navigation and timing; satellite communications; and missile warning, The Gazette previously reported.
This week, the leader of Space Command called for the development of space weapons to better deter aggression in space.
Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said she has been talking with President Donald Trump for months about the importance of keeping the command at Peterson Space Force Base, where it has reached full operational capability.
“Our entire delegation is working really diligently to ensure we keep Space Command in Colorado,” she said, on the call alongside Colorado Republican Reps. Jeff Hurd and Gabe Evans. While no Colorado Democrats spoke, all of them have supported Space Command in the past, including both U.S. senators.
While Colorado lawmakers and others celebrated Biden’s decision, including holding a party in Colorado Springs’ America the Beautiful Park, Rogers was one of the fierce opponents even after that announcement, using his powerful committee position to withhold funding to build a new headquarters building at Peterson.
Rogers announced the command’s pending move on a podcast hosted by the McCrary Institute.
“I expect sometime during in the month of April that Space Command will officially be assigned to build its headquarters in Huntsville, but they already have a big space mission up there,” Rogers said.
He said he expected the announcement after the new Air Force secretary is named.
Rogers made similar statements before back in November when he said he expected Trump would issue an executive order to send Space Command to Huntsville during his first week in office.
While the official basing process considered other locations for Space Command, now Boebert said other states such as Arizona and Florida are again interested in the command.
“The more members from other states that get involved, I think the easier it is to just stay put in Colorado,” she said.
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