Rep. Boebert Goes to Bat for Space Command

Press Release

Today, U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-03) released the following statement after taking action with bipartisan Members of the Colorado delegation to request an investigation into the decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama:

"Russia and China have been developing lasers that could destroy U.S. satellites. The threat to our security in space is real. Now is not the time to try and relocate the U.S. Space Command headquarters, especially if the reason for doing so was political. Today, members on both sides of the aisle in Colorado asked the Biden administration to conduct a thorough investigation to make sure that wasn't the case. Given our state's military, intelligence and space capabilities as well as our existing footprint, it defies common sense that we would relocate the headquarters now when Colorado is the one and only home the U.S. Space Command has ever known."

Background

On 1/13/21, the U.S. Air Force announced it had selected the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as its preferred new location for its U.S. Space Command headquarters.

Reports indicate that the Secretary of the Air Force made the final decision. However, significant concerns have been raised that this may have been a political decision not based on the merits.

Today, U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-03) joined bipartisan Members of the Colorado delegation in sending a letter requesting a thorough investigation into the decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the Space Command headquarters is expected to stay in Colorado for at least the next six years while a transition occurs.

On December 16, 2020, then Congresswoman-Elect Boebert sent a letter with 600 of Colorado's political, business, civic and military leaders urging the previous administration to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs.

1,600 jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars are at risk if Space Command leaves Colorado. Colorado's aerospace economy is second only to California and accounts for nearly 200,000 jobs.

U.S. Space Command was created in 1985 and was located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs from 1985-2002 until it was deactivated. Space Command was reestablished in 2019 and has been located in Colorado Springs since reactivation.

The National Space Defense Center (NSDC) at Schriever AFB, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, and the satellite communication capabilities at Peterson AFB represent the nation's premier military and intelligence space coordination entities. It is not an accident these entities are co-located.

U.S. space capabilities are important to national security. China and Russia have significantly increased their presence in outer space and are now a threat to U.S. satellites and security in space. Russia conducted at least two anti-satellite weapons tests in 2020 alone.

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