WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2023) President Joe Biden put an end to more than two years of consideration of whether to move the Space Command headquarters and decided to keep it in Colorado, thus canceling former President Donald Trump's decision to move it to the state of Alabama, Defense Department spokesperson Patrick Ryder announced on Monday.
"Today, following a thorough and deliberate evaluation process, and after consultation with Secretary Austin and weighing the input of senior military leaders, President Biden notified the Department of Defense that he has selected Colorado Springs as the permanent location of the US Space Command Headquarters," Ryder said in a statement.
The decision has already sparked criticism from members of Congress representing the state of Alabama. Senator Katie Britt in a statement condemned Biden's move and called it a decision that put politics first and not national security interests.
US congressman and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers also called Biden's decision political, adding that the fight is "far from over."
Since 1987, the US Space Command has been headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, but in his final days in January 2021, Trump decided to move the Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama.
During Trump's administration, the US Air Force named Redstone Arsenal as the new headquarters site for the US Space Command, citing the high-tech workforce, schools, and infrastructure in Huntsville, also known as "Rocket City," hosting NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as well as the Army's Redstone Arsenal.
