President Biden on Monday ordered that the headquarters for the brand new U.S. Space Command will keep in Colorado Springs, Colorado, overturning a Trump administration determination to relocate the command to Huntsville, Alabama.
The Defense Department insisted the basing determination was the results of “an objective and deliberate process” designed to keep away from the disruption and delays of a relocation. Colorado lawmakers praised the transfer. Alabama lawmakers had been livid and accused the White House of enjoying politics with nationwide safety.
Mr. Biden’s navy advisers had been reportedly cut up on the 2 websites, though Huntsville had come out forward in a Government Accountability Office location analysis course of. Alabama Rep. Dale Strong, a Republican who represents Huntsville, informed AL.com on Monday that Mr. Biden’s determination was “shameful” and that politics clearly performed a job.
“It is clear to anyone who has looked at the facts: Huntsville, Alabama, is the best place for U.S. Space Command headquarters,” Mr. Strong stated. “It is shameful that the Biden administration is ignoring what is best for our nation’s security and is instead using their ‘woke’ agenda to make this decision.”
The Defense Department stated preserving Space Command in Colorado Springs will assist guarantee “peak readiness in the space domain” throughout a crucial interval as rivals, akin to China, step up their navy packages in house.
The Pentagon stated Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, and Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, supported President Biden’s determination to maintain the headquarters in Colorado.
But the White House has additionally been engaged in a months-long battle with Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville due to his maintain on navy promotions for generals and admirals. Mr. Tuberville objects to a Pentagon coverage that covers bills for service members touring to different states to have an abortion. White House nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby denied on CNN Monday that politics performed any function within the Space Command determination.
After a fierce bidding competitors, the Air Force selected Huntsville over 59 different cities greater than 2 1/2 years in the past, with Mr. Trump saying later he “single-handedly” engineered the transfer. But Mr. Biden put the brakes on that call as soon as he moved into the White House in 2021. Mr. Tuberville stated Monday in an announcement that the one factor that had modified within the choice course of was the “political party of the sitting president.”
“Now, they are putting Space Command headquarters in a location that didn’t even make the top three” decisions, he stated.
The Air Force’s high three decisions for Space Command headquarters had been all in “red” states — Alabama, Nebraska and Texas. Mr. Biden’s determination to override the selection in favor of retaining the ability in a reliably Democratic state like Colorado seems to be like political patronage, critics stated.
Mr. Tuberville additionally charged the White House with ready till Congress had gone into its August recess and had already handed subsequent yr’s protection finances earlier than saying the choice.
Colorado lawmakers, against this, hailed the choice. The state’s backers famous that Colorado Springs is already dwelling to the Air Force Academy, which now graduates Space Force guardians, and greater than 24 navy house missions, together with three Space Force bases. A brand new headquarters in Alabama wouldn’t be totally operational till someday after 2030, they stated.
“For two and a half years we’ve known any objective analysis of this basing decision would reach the same conclusion we did, that Peterson Space Force Base is the best home for Space Command,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, Colorado Democrat, stated in an announcement. “Most importantly, this decision firmly rejects the idea that politics — instead of national security — should determine basing decisions central to our national security.”
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