Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., at a 2023 committee hearing. OLIVER CONTRERAS / AFP via Getty Images
HASC chair: Trump will move Space Command HQ to Alabama immediately
The command has been based in Colorado since it was formed in 2019.
President-elect Donald Trump will sign an executive order within his first week of office to move U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama, clearing the way for construction to start as soon as next year, according to Alabama congressman Mike Rogers.
Space Command has been based in Colorado at Peterson Space Force Base since its inception in 2019, but the decision on a forever home has been the subject of a years-long debate. The Biden administration in 2023 reversed a decision Trump made in his last days in office to move the command’s permanent headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama.
“I've told y'all since Biden made that crooked decision, it wasn't going to work. As you know, on the [House] Armed Services Committee, I put a hold on any money being spent in Colorado Springs after President Biden came in and stole that mission away, and I told everybody then that Colorado Springs will not be the future location of Space Command, it will be Huntsville, Alabama, who won at fair and square,” Rogers said during an interview on Alabama radio station FM Talk 106.5 that aired on Monday.
The 2024 defense policy bill put a freeze on SPACECOM headquarters construction until two government watchdog agencies evaluate Biden’s decision to keep it in Colorado. The two investigations will wrap up in December or January, Rogers said, and would have “reversed the president's decision anyway.”
“It's going to be a big point now because President Trump's already announced it, and I think you'll see in the first week that he's in office, he'll sign an executive order reversing Biden's directive. And we will start construction next year in Huntsville,” Rogers said.
Biden officials have argued that the command should stay in Colorado to maintain readiness and prevent the loss of civilian workers, who make up 60 percent of its workforce.
But Rogers said the new Trump administration is unlikely to see any pushback from Democrats on HASC.
“I have every confidence that if for some reason we didn't take control of the House, [HASC ranking member] Adam Smith and the Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee would do nothing to try to interfere with the U.S. Space Command being constructed in Huntsville," Rogers said.