Nearly a year after the location of Space Command Headquarters was reversed from Huntsville to Colorado Springs, Congress is still waiting for answers.
In January 2021, the Secretary of the Air Force identified the Redstone Arsenal site in Huntsville as the top choice for the Space Command headquarters. The recommendation for the site was then affirmed by the Inspector General's Office and the Government Accountability Office, both of which found that the Air Force had conducted an accurate analysis and Huntsville was the superior location.
Yet on July 31, 2023, government officials reported that President Joe Biden reversed the decision to locate Space Command headquarters in Huntsville and instead selected a location in Colorado.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2024 includes a provision that prohibits funding from being used to expand Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs.
The NDAA will stop the command from renting, planning, designing or constructing new facilities. The funding freeze will remain until at least June 30, 2024, and is contingent on completed investigations by the Department of Defense inspector general and the comptroller general of the United States.
"It is mandated in the NDAA that there is absolutely no funding for the Space Command headquarters or any related facilities whatsoever in Colorado Springs until the DoD's Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office delivers their reports to Congress. We have not yet received these reports, so nothing has changed," U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) told 1819 News on Thursday.
The 2025 NDAA is still being negotiated in Congress and hasn't been passed into law yet. If elected, former President Donald Trump is expected to reverse the headquarters location back to Huntsville.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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