President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the headquarters for U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) will be relocated, reports the U.S. Department of Defense. This was a long expected decision from Trump, says AP, as Alabama and Colorado have been fighting over which state would the permanent residence of the space base.
Previously homed at the Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, the space command will be moved to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, the northern part of the state.
Both Trump and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth believe that the U.S. is in the lead in the space race and that moving SPACECOM to Huntsville secures that strategic advantage and American protection.
Mo Brooks, (shown at right) former U.S. representative from Alabama, spoke with Jody Hice on Washington Watch about the move. During his time in Congress, he was also affiliated with the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
“I'm elated that finally, once again, we have another presidential decision that recognizes that the Redstone Arsenal, which neighbors Huntsville, Alabama, is the superior location for Space Command,” Brooks says.
Also known as “Rocket City,” Huntsville has a deep history with the space program. During the Cold War it was the site for developing missile technology and working on both the groundbreaking Apollo and Space Shuttle space programs. The city also saw the formation of NASA and the establishment of the Mashall Space Flight Center.
Brooks affirms that Huntsville is the superior location of SPACECOM’s headquarters since it is considered the birthplace of American’s space program. The weapons seen in the military are purchased through Redstone Arsenal, and they have physicists and engineers responsible for overseeing and inventing breakthroughs in technology for weaponry, he said.
“Put all these things in place that we already have established at Redstone Arsenal, it only makes sense that you would also be the site for Space Command because of our leadership with NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, combined with our leadership in so many high-tech weapons systems and platforms that we are renowned for having invented or managed or built,” Brooks said.
Air Force already preferred Alabama
Trump reestablished SPACECOM as the 11th unified combatant of the Department of Defense in August 2019 after it had been shut down in 2002. Huntsville was chosen as the preferred location by the Air Force for SPACECOM’s headquarters in 2021, but the Biden administration announced in 2023 that it would remain in Colorado where it was said to be temporarily residing.
An inspector general review from the Department of Defense could not ascertain a reason for the Biden administration’s decision to keep SPACECOM in Colorado. The Biden administration said it was too costly to move.
However, Brooks believes the cost argument is a false one.
“Over the long haul, our community is a much cheaper, less expensive to the taxpayer place to locate Space Command. We've got workers who are available at lower cost. We've got housing that is available at lower cost. We have a lower tax burden for citizens in the state of Alabama than we have, say, in a place like Colorado,” Brooks argues.
Brooks also adds that Redstone Arsenal is unmatched because of its technological capabilities.
“By way of just one example, we have more engineers per capita in this metropolitan area than any place in the United States. We have physicists and scientists just all around,” Brooks adds.
He says that intellectual talent and synergy made Huntsville the premier location to those in charge of making these political decisions. Furthermore, the previous decision to keep SPACECOM in Colorado, he says, was about jobs and not national defense.
“They didn't want to see the potential loss of jobs or prestige go from Colorado to the state of Alabama, so they pulled out all stops. Now, it was to the detriment of the United States of America and our defense capabilities that the congressional delegation from Colorado, in conjunction with Joe Biden, reversed a merit-based decision,” states Brooks.
How the political winds blow
Colorado supported Biden with 55.4% of the vote in 2020.
In Alabama, Trump got 62.2% of the vote in 2020 and 64.8% in 2024.
While the Biden administration achieved its goal temporarily, Brooks stresses that the U.S. cannot afford to fetter away any more time. He continues to say that Communist China is building superior weapons “even as we speak.”
“People may not realize it but probably close to 80%-90% of the weaponry that the United States of America uses – our advanced weaponry – is reliant upon space platforms for location capabilities to ensure that that weapon hits what you actually want it to hit,” Brooks informs.
He stresses that America needs to protect these assets.
“Joe Biden and the Colorado delegation set us back three or four years by the political games that we played,” Brooks says. “We've got to get our act together, and we've got to do what is necessary to adequately protect and promote our assets in space, or else we risk losing those kinds of assets.”
