Denver — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) released the following statement on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit today to U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs. Austin’s visit comes amid investigations by the DoD Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office into the decision to move Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama.
“Colorado Springs has been the epicenter of our national security space mission since 1985. We’re glad that Secretary Austin is visiting to see Space Command for himself. We hope the visit will reinforce our view that Space Command will be strongest if it remains here in Colorado. In the meantime, we urge the Secretary to suspend Space Command’s move until the investigations into political interference are complete.”
In January, the Air Force announced that Huntsville, Alabama, would be the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command. Following this announcement, reports surfaced that President Donald Trump had politicized the decision process to relocate Space Command from its provisional headquarters in Colorado Springs.
On January 26, Bennet and Hickenlooper led the entire Colorado Congressional Delegation in urging President Joe Biden to suspend the Trump Administration’s decision to relocate U.S. Space Command until a thorough review of the decision was conducted.
In March, Bennet, Hickenlooper, and a bipartisan group of Senators outlined recommendations for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) to include in the investigation of the decision.
During congressional hearings last week, General James H. Dickinson, Commander of Space Command, acknowledged that there are many unanswered questions about the move, including its costs and impact on workforce retention.