On Friday, Feb. 19 the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General announced it will review the previous administration’s decision to relocate the new U.S Space Command away from Colorado Springs.
Governor Jared Polis and Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera have issued a statement regarding the announcement.
President Donald Trump and U.S. General John W. Raymond mark the formal establishment of the U.S. Space Command on Aug. 29, 2019. (Image credit: Chen Mengtong/China News Service/Getty)
“We are pleased that the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General is evaluating the selection process for the permanent location of U.S. Space Command. The process was flawed and inconsistently evaluated each of the finalist locations. Moving U.S. Space Command will disrupt the mission and risk our national security, threaten jobs and economic growth of our state and Southern Colorado.”
“It’s clear that the decision to relocate U.S Space Command is fiscally irresponsible and would cost taxpayers money. The Dept. of Defense should review this decision to ensure that it is based upon objective and relevant scoring factors. Colorado’s proud military heritage, unparalleled aerospace ecosystem, and unmatched quality of life for our service members and their families make us the epicenter of national security space and the only home for the mission. We thank Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and our federal delegation for their efforts to restore integrity to the process and look forward to the findings from the investigation. We will continue to support the efforts to maintain U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs.”
Following the announcement that the U.S. Space Command would not remain in Colorado, reports surfaced that President Donald Trump politicized the process; choosing to relocate U.S. Space Command from its provisional headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Earlier this month, Governor Jared Polis, along with Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, and a group of bipartisan state legislators wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, urging him to pause the U.S. Space Command’s move from Colorado Springs.
The state’s governing leaders were joined by U.S. Senators for Colorado Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D), in supporting a decision that space command remaining in Colorado. They released the following statement supporting the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General’s investigation into the Trump Administration’s decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama:
“We are glad to hear that the Department of Defense Inspector General will be investigating the Trump Administration’s hastily-announced basing decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. Colorado is the epicenter of the national security space mission and has been performing the mission since the inception of Space Command in 1985. Moving Space Command will disrupt the mission while risking our national security and economic vitality. Politics have no role to play in our national security. We fully support the investigation.”
In 2019, a bipartisan effort by Bennet and former U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) led the Colorado delegation in writing to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and to Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan and Commander of U.S. Space Command General Jay Raymond to emphasize what Colorado offers to be the permanent home of U.S. Space Command.
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