Alabama Space Force HQ cancelation gets Republican probe demand

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee demanded Thursday that the Pentagon’s inspector general launch an investigation into why the Biden administration reversed a decision to move the US Space Command to his home state of Alabama.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) accused the White House of playing politics by reversing a late-Trump administration decision to move the combatant command’s headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colo. to Huntsville, Ala.

“We have seen some real concerns raised here today. There is no reason to justify what’s happened other than – in my view – political considerations,” the chairman said at a HASC hearing on the matter.

Though Space Command has been temporarily based out of the Centennial State since its inception, Trump – in one of his last acts as president – directed the command to open a new headquarters in Huntsville.

The Southern city was originally selected as a nod to its proud history of engineering innovation.

It is also home to the Marshall Space Flight Center, which delivers vital propulsion systems and hardware, launch vehicles, space systems and other research projects for NASA.

Since then, Space Command has been operating “temporarily” out of Colorado as the Biden administration reviewed the permanent basing decision, which had been informed by Air Force-directed studies.

But when Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) began his ongoing hold on senior military officer promotions in protest of a Pentagon policy covering troops’ travel expenses to receive reproductive healthcare — such as in-vitro fertilization and abortions — some suggested his stance could influence the basing review.

When President Biden announced July 31 that the Defense Department would instead keep the Space Force in Colorado, some Republicans in Congress began speaking out on their suspicions that the choice was payback for the Alabama senator’s obstinance.

“I want you to know that I disagree with the way Sen. Tuberville did things,” Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) told Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall at the hearing.

“… But to me, my concern is, it looks like it’s payback from the president of the United States – and payback is a very dangerous game.”

“Nobody wins when there’s payback,” he added.

Not all who objected to the president’s decision are members of the GOP.

At the hearing, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) also accused the Biden administration of making the basing decision for improper reasons.

“While Space Command needs to be in Huntsville, we’ve made a political decision over a competency decision,” she said.

“I know that this administration strives for equity and strives to be fair – and this is simply unfair.”

The head of US Space Command, Army Gen. James Dickinson – a Colorado native – reportedly convinced Biden not to move the base, claiming that moving without would “jeopardize military readiness.”

The assessment came in contrast to the Air Force’s previous recommendation of relocating the headquarters to Huntsville after studying the issue at length.

Kendall, who previously advocated for the Huntsville location, testified Thursday that Biden believed Dickinson’s advice that forcing Space Force’s civilian workforce – which makes up about 60% of the combatant command’s personnel – to move would risk the departure of essential skilled employees.

“I know that the workforce — that able, ready workforce — that is there in Huntsville can more than accommodate this operational readiness that’s being an issue, and operational readiness only came months before the President made the decision,” responded Sewell.

Sewell also claimed Biden may not have been given the complete picture by Space Command leadership when prompted to make his decision.

“I hope that we can move away from politics, and look at the facts and the facts are that Huntsville will be a better location – the best location – for Space Command,” she said.

Rogers agreed with her assessment, charging that Dickinson’s observations about a move hurting readiness was demonstrably false.

“There is no readiness concern here, no basis for the president to interfere with these [study] results,” the chairman said.

“And I do agree that the president shouldn’t have been given that information, and he would have supported Sec. Kendall’s recommendation [to move the base to Alabama.]”

Moving forward, Rogers said he intends to “make sure that the competition results are honored, and that the permanent basing headquarters are authorized and funded to be constructed in Huntsville, Ala.”

“We don’t live in a monarchy; we live in a constitutional republic,” the chairman said.

“The president can intervene and tell his department personnel what he wants to do, but Congress gets to decide what we’re going to authorize and what we’re going to pay for.”