Gate 9 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. (Eric Schultz/al.com via TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — A new report on the tussle over U.S. Space Command headquarters reveals concerns at the highest levels of the command that a thousand civilian employees would not relocate from Colorado to Alabama if the headquarters were to be moved to Redstone Arsenal.
Made public Tuesday, the 54-page, heavily redacted document from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General notes Space Command’s concerns that civilian staffing lapses would impact readiness appeared to weigh heavily on former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who was tasked with recommending a decision to then-President Joe Biden.
The U.S. Air Force named Redstone Arsenal the “preferred location” in 2021 for a permanent headquarters for the newly formed Space Command. The command had been temporarily housed at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. — which is still its location after President Joe Biden’s 2023 decision for it to remain there rather than move it to Alabama.
The review is the first of two being done in response to a request from U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. Last year he asked the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense Inspector General to investigate the siting decision.
A provision in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act prohibited spending money on Space Command’s headquarters pending the outcome of the reviews. That blocked construction work on the facility at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Top Alabama Republican members of Congress characterized the report as supporting their longtime assertion that the former president treated the headquarters selection process like a political football.
In a statement released late Monday, Rogers said the Inspector General’s report, “reveals an astounding lack of transparency and accountability by the Biden Administration.”
“After years of promises about ‘due diligence’ and ‘careful consideration,’ political employees at the White House cut out the Air Force and senior defense leaders to select Colorado over Alabama as the site for SPACECOM headquarters,” Rogers said.
In a statement posted on X, Rep. Dale Strong, whose 5th District includes Huntsville and Redstone, said he trusted President Donald Trump would “do what is right” for national security.
“It is past time to go vertical at Redstone Arsenal,” Strong wrote.
Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt said in an emailed statement that the report’s conclusions, “could not be clearer” — despite the copious redactions.
“Huntsville earned its ranking fair and square, based on strategic value, existing infrastructure, and quality of life in North Alabama,” he said. “To disregard those facts for political reasons not only undermines public trust but also compromises our military readiness.”
Inspectors were unable to interview Kendall or former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin because the White House and Pentagon counsels under the Biden administration refused to make them available without additional lawyers present, a requirement the Inspector General’s office rejected. Therefore, the report does not draw any conclusions about the decision-making process.
It does, however, reveal previously unknown concerns over moving the headquarters that were circulating in the top echelons of Space Command and the Air Force. Chief among them, the document shows, were worries that civilian staff would not follow the command from Colorado to Alabama, and that establishing facilities at Redstone Arsenal that match those in Colorado Springs would take up to four years.
Yet it acknowledges that the one-time cost of relocating the headquarters to Redstone would lead to $426 million in taxpayer savings, due to lower personnel costs and less expensive construction.
The report pins much of the uncertainty over the final siting of Space Command headquarters on Kendall, who, it states, “never announced a final decision” on the location before July 31, 2023. On that date, the Pentagon announced Biden had decided — after consulting with the Defense secretary and “senior military leadership” — the headquarters would remain in Colorado Springs.
Absent a ruling from Kendall between January 2021 and July 2023, the report states, construction at Redstone could not begin, while Space Command “continued to accelerate its approach [to] full operational capability” at Peterson Space Force Base. It reached that status in December 2023.
Meanwhile, Air Force and Space Command officials were communicating their preferences on the location to their superiors in the Defense Department. The new report states the Air Force continued to back a move to Redstone Arsenal. Yet inspectors wrote that in April 2023, Space Command’s commander — who was Army Gen. James H. Dickinson at the time — told Kendall the headquarters should remain in Colorado Springs.
Inspectors wrote that, based on interviews with Redstone and Space Command staff, bringing the arsenal’s facilities and IT networks up to par with those in Colorado Springs could take so long after a final location decision was announced that “operational readiness would be impacted.” Yet Air Force staff believed, the report states, operational risks could be “mitigated,” though details are redacted.
Of greater concern to Space Command brass, the report states, was the potential loss of up to 1,000 critical staffers if a move were ordered. In an April 2023 memo to Kendall, Dickinson wrote, “there is a risk that most of the 1,000 civilians, contractors, and reservists will not relocate to another location.” Inspectors noted, however, that Space Command officials did not formally survey staffers about a potential move, “to avoid frightening (the) employees.”
As recently as May 2024, the report states, an official with the command’s satellite operations directorate told inspectors “with certainty” that only 1 in 25 civilian employees of the directorate would move to the Rocket City.
Despite the new report — and a third state seeking to grab the command’s headquarters — Alabama elected officials seem poised to continue pressing Washington to move it to Huntsville.
Also Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a joint resolution encouraging the president, Defense secretary and Air Force secretary to immediately establish Space Command’s permanent headquarters at Redstone.
“Alabama Republicans and Democrats — along with the facts — agree the U.S. Space Command Headquarters belongs in Huntsville,” Ivey said in signing the resolution.
Space Command is charged with defending space and delivering space capabilities to joint and combined U.S. and allied forces. Locating the command in Huntsville would bring at least 1,600 new jobs, AL.com reported.
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