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Despite a months-long battle that finally settled the U.S. Space Command in Colorado, the military branch may be at risk of relocating to Alabama once again.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to move the Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama, a decision he had made during his first term that was later reversed by President Joe Biden out of concern for the state’s anti-abortion law. “Trump’s gonna be there. He’s going to enforce what the secretary of the Air Force said under his administration and the secretary of the Air Force said under Biden’s administration,” Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican and the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, is quoted as saying in a report by Politico. “That is, Huntsville won the competition … and that’s where it should be and that’s where he’s going to build it.”
On the other hand, Colorado lawmakers are gearing up to fight the decision to relocate the Space Command to Alabama under Trump’s upcoming term. “Obviously, I believe that if it’s down to military value, Colorado is the place for it to be,” U.S. Representative-elect Jeff Crank, a Republican who will represent Colorado Springs in Congress, told The Denver Post. “If [Trump] wants to build out the Space Force and Space Command and have it meet the national security moment and our threats, then he will keep it here.”
In December 2022, the Biden administration directed the U.S. Air Force to conduct a review of a decision made by Trump to relocate the Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama. Biden was reportedly looking to reverse that decision out of concern over Alabama’s strict anti-abortion laws.
Biden’s decision sparked a months-long feud over the rightful place for the U.S. Space Command, with Alabama lawmakers resorting to restricting the Air Force’s budget to put pressure on the administration. In June 2023, Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and an Alabama rep, released a bill that would not only restrict spending on the construction of the Space Command’s current facilities in Colorado but also limit funds for the Air Force.
Finally in August 2023, President Biden succeeded in reversing Trump’s decision, much to the dismay of Alabama officials. Alabama Republican Dale Strong issued a statement condemning Biden’s call, arguing that the administration is “ignoring what is best for our nation’s security and is instead using their woke agenda to make this decision.”
With Trump returning to office in January, officials are expecting him to reverse Biden’s decision and relocate the Space Command headquarters to Alabama. This back-and-forth will surely disrupt the recently reestablished Space Command’s efforts to become fully operational.
Trump established the U.S. Space Command in 2019 during his first term as president. The U.S. had a Space Command from 1985 to 2002, when it was dissolved by former President George W. Bush and its functions absorbed by the U.S. Strategic Command.
Although it’s easy to confuse them, the Space Command is different from the Space Force. The Space Command is a combatant command of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct “operations in, from, and to space to deter conflict, and if necessary, defeat aggression, deliver space combat power for the joint/combined force, and defend U.S. vital interests with allies and partners,” according to the DOD. Space Force, on the other hand, is a separate military branch focused on organizing, training, and equipping space forces to protect U.S. and allied interests in space.
Trump had also vowed to create a Space National Guard during his second term as president, a move that the Biden administration had deemed unnecessary and costly. The upcoming president could help sway lawmakers in favor of the Space National Guard, and reignite the feud between Alabama and Colorado over the Space Command’s headquarters.
