Lawmakers ask Air Force to ‘pause all actions’ on Space Command move

Colorado lawmakers have asked the Air Force’s top civilian official to stop the relocation of U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala., citing “irregularities” in the Trump-era decision.

Due to “irregularities of the selection process and the effects on national security, we request you pause all actions related to moving [U.S. Space Command] until thorough reviews” by the Defense Department inspector general and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) are finished, according to a Sept. 30 letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall signed by nearly all of the Colorado delegation and led by Sen. Michael Bennett (D).

The group argues that such a move “undermines our ability to respond to the threats in space and is disruptive to the current mission” and that “significant evidence exists” that former President Trump’s political considerations influenced the final decision to relocate the command in Alabama.

The letter is the latest push from lawmakers to urge the Biden administration to reconsider the Space Command move, a decision that came in the final days of the Trump administration.

Lawmakers have since been needling the White House and Pentagon to review the plan to move the command’s permanent headquarters from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.

The Air Force has maintained the move was done after careful deliberation, but Trump last month undermined that argument when he said he “single-handedly” chose to move the command.

The Pentagon has not yet moved to transfer the command from Peterson Air Force Base, the provisional headquarters of the command until 2026, due to the ongoing review of the decision by the Pentagon inspector general and GAO.

Kendall, who has been in office since July, has only publicly commented once on the issue, telling a reporter in August that either location “is certainly feasible as the headquarters.”

In their latest letter, the Colorado lawmakers reiterate their argument that the selection of Huntsville was made after an “opaque and inconsistent process,” which will set off a costly move that doesn’t make sense as most of the command’s workforce and infrastructure are in Colorado.

“Serious questions remain about the cost of this decision and its effect on our ability to respond to critical and escalating threats in space,” the lawmakers write. “Our nation cannot afford disruptions to the current mission at this time, especially as China and Russia work to match or exceed U.S. capabilities in space.”