Despite the months-long battle that finally settled the US Space Command in Colorado, the military branch may be in danger of moving to Alabama again.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to move the Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama, a decision he made during his first term that was later reversed by President Joe Biden due to concerns over the country’s anti-abortion law. “Trump will be there. He’s going to use what the secretary of the Air Force said under his administration and the secretary of the Air Force said under the Biden administration,” Mike Rogers, Alabama Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was quoted as saying in a statement. Politico reports. “That is, Huntsville won. competition … and that’s where you have to be and that’s where they’re going to build.”
Meanwhile, Colorado lawmakers are preparing to fight the decision to move the Space Command to Alabama under Trump’s next term. “Obviously, I believe that when it comes to the military, Colorado is the place to be,” said U.S. Representative Jeff Crank, a Republican who will represent Colorado Springs in Congress, told the Denver Post. “If [Trump] he wants to build up the Space Force and Space Command and make it meet the national security agenda and our threats, then he’s going to keep it here. “
In December 2022, the Biden administration ordered the US Air Force to review Trump’s decision to move the Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama. Biden was reportedly looking to reverse that decision due to concerns about Alabama’s strict anti-abortion laws.
Biden’s decision sparked a months-long dispute over the proper location of the US Space Command, in which Alabama lawmakers turned to restricting the Air Force budget to put pressure on the administration. In June 2023, Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a representative of Alabama, released a bill that would not only limit the use of the current facilities of the Space Command in Colorado but also reduce the Air Force budget.
Finally in August 2023, President Biden succeeded in reversing Trump’s decision, much to the dismay of Alabama officials. Alabama Republican Dale Strong released statement criticizing Biden’s invitation, saying the administration “ignored what is best for our nation’s security and instead used their own agenda to make this decision.”
As Trump returns to office in January, officials expect him to reverse Biden’s decision and move the Space Command headquarters to Alabama. This back and forth will disrupt the efforts of the recently established Space Command to become fully operational.
Trump established the US Space Command in 2019 during his first term as president. The US had a Space Command from 1985 to 2002, when it was abolished by former President George W. Bush and its functions were taken over by the US Strategic Command.
Although it is easy to confuse them, Space Command is different from Space Force. Space Command is a combatant command of the US Department of Defense (DOD) to “operate, launch, and go into space to prevent conflict, and if necessary, defeat aggression, bring combat power to the space forces of joint/department forces, and protect vital US interests and allies and partners,” according to the DOD. Space Force, on the other hand, is a separate branch of the military that focuses on planning, training, and equipping space forces to protect US and allied interests in space.
Trump has also vowed to create a Space National Guard during his second term as president, a move the Biden administration has deemed unnecessary and costly. The incoming president could help sway lawmakers in favor of the Space National Guard, and end the dispute between Alabama and Colorado over the headquarters of the Space Command.
