Biden Keeps Space Command in Colorado, Rejects Alabama Move

(RightWing.org) – The Biden administration has canceled a planned relocation of Space Force’s HQ from Florida to Alabama. The move was ordered by the Trump administration soon after the former president created the US Space Force as a separate armed service. Now Biden wants it to stay where it is — but the decision has caused a rift in our military leadership.

When Donald Trump split off the US Space Force from the US Air Force (USAF) in 2019, the new organization’s operational headquarters was set up at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. That made sense at the time; Colorado Springs, the home of the US Air Force Academy, has strong links to the USAF and had all the infrastructure and support needed to set up a new service.

However, that was only supposed to be a temporary location, and in January 2021, Trump announced that it would be moving to Huntsville, Alabama — known as “Rocket City” for its links to both NASA and military missile development and home to the Redstone Arsenal missile center.

Now Biden has killed that plan; US Space Command will stay in Colorado Springs. Space Command chief, General James Dickinson, has been pushing for that to happen, claiming that moving his headquarters would damage military readiness, but the USAF believes moving the new force to Alabama would work better. Biden is giving the same explanation as Dickinson — preserving readiness — but Alabama Republicans don’t believe him. They think their state is being punished for political reasons.

Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is currently locked in a battle with the Pentagon over providing travel out of state for military personnel who want an abortion. The Biden administration says that had nothing to do with the decision; Tuberville says the Air Force’s three top locations for Space Command are all in red states — Alabama, Nebraska, and Texas — and keeping it in solidly blue Colorado “looks like blatant patronage politics.” It seems like, once again, Biden could be putting politics above better decisions.