The Trump administration plans to move the US Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama. Photo / Getty Images
President Donald Trump has said that he is relocating the US Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama, marking the latest twist in a years-long partisan battle over the agency’s home.
During an Oval Office announcement surrounded by members of Alabama’s congressional delegation, Trump said the facility would be moved to “the beautiful locale of a place called Huntsville”, where the US government houses a host of related infrastructure.
Trump and the lawmakers around him framed the decision as a common-sense choice for American national security, citing the Air Force’s original preference to base the command in Huntsville. But the latest reversal in the agency’s location caps an intense lobbying campaign from both states – spanning three administrations and two presidents – for the headquarters and the billions of dollars in investment expected to flow from it.
The President acknowledged the pressure in his remarks, mentioning how often the lawmakers standing around him would raise the issue.
“You’re not going to call me anymore and talk about this subject, right? You promise?” Trump said.
Space Command dates to the 1980s, when it was established to oversee the US military’s vast array of satellites and co-ordinate with other high-level headquarters. In 2002, it was merged into US Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska before being re-established under Trump in 2019, as moves by Russia and China forced US officials to assign higher priority to a domain where the Pentagon once had little competition.
Lawmakers from Alabama and Colorado have argued that their states would be the most appropriate to house the command’s headquarters, given Huntsville’s connections to the space industry and Colorado Springs’ ties to the Air Force.
The Air Force in 2021 said it preferred Huntsville – home to Redstone Arsenal and Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Centre – for the command’s headquarters. In 2023, though, the Biden administration opted to keep it based in Colorado Springs.
Representative Mike D. Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and other lawmakers from his state vowed to overturn that decision. The possibility of a move became far more likely after Trump returned to office.
“Every one of these people would call me and lobby me,” Trump said. “And they got their way.”
Senator Katie Boyd Britt estimated the move would bring at least 1600 jobs to the state, part of a larger boost to the local economy.
Trump referenced his wide margin of victory in Alabama during last year’s presidential election, though he said that wasn’t the reason for his decision. Separately, he suggested that Colorado’s reliance on mail-in ballots did influence the choice, continuing his longtime push against the voting method.
“I want to thank, Colorado,” Trump said. “The problem I have with Colorado – one of the big problems – [is that] they do mail-in voting.”
Rogers, like others speaking at the White House, accused the Biden administration of injecting politics into the decision two years ago.
“It was the Biden administration that decided to make it political, even though his own secretary of the Air Force said it was a fair competition and it should be in Huntsville,” Rogers said.
The entire Colorado congressional delegation – including Trump ally Representative Lauren Boebert – released a statement condemning the decision and vowed to fight it.
“Moving Space Command sets our space defence apparatus back years, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars and hands the advantage to the converging threats of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea,” the lawmakers said.
Members of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce also expressed disappointment in the announcement, though appeared less committed to trying to reverse it.
“Colorado is going to remain a global aerospace hub regardless of the presence of Space Command,” said Leslie Oliver, vice president of external affairs, in a call.
While she couldn’t offer a precise assessment, Oliver projected the move would cost her area 1400 jobs and around US$1 billion ($1.7b) in economic activity.
Space Command coordinates US military activities in space, including satellite communications, defending government satellites from harm and some aspects of missile defence. It is distinct from the Space Force, the Defence Department’s newest service.
Both organisations have grown in importance as the United States and its rivals, including Russia and China, increasingly look at space as an area for military competition. In recent years, US generals have warned that China especially is making rapid advances in satellite technology.
Huntsville has long been a hub for aerospace and defence. The Nasa spaceflight centre employs more than 6000 people supporting engineering and science research. Many aerospace companies also have offices in the area, including Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Natalie Allison, Tara Copp, Aaron Gregg, Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
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