A new review by congressional auditors finds U.S. Space Command is struggling with hiring and headquarters construction almost 18 months after it declared itself operationally ready.
It also calls into question the Air Force’s claim that moving the headquarters to Redstone Arsenal would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings – a key justification that has been seized on by Alabama politicians in recent years.
The report by the Government Accountability Office is the latest in a series of reviews of a 2023 decision by former President Joe Biden to locate the new command’s permanent headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., where it had been temporarily housed. That choice came despite the U.S. Air Force naming Redstone Arsenal as the “preferred location” in 2021 following a lengthy selection process.
Since then, politicians from Colorado and Alabama have sparred over the proper location. Just this year, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Sen. Katie Britt and Rep. Dale Strong of Huntsville called on President Donald Trump to “immediately proceed” to establish its permanent headquarters at Redstone. Last month, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a joint resolution in support as well.
The report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office finds Space Command’s headquarters operates out of four facilities in Colorado Springs, Colo. – only two of which are on secure military installations – and remains well short of its civilian staffing needs.
“Officials told us … the Command requires military construction of a permanent, purpose-built facility that is better suited to meet its unique power, information technology, square footage, and security needs,” auditors wrote.
Due to the struggles with staffing and delays in construction, auditors wrote in the new report, Space Command’s “current command posture is not sustainable long-term.”
Auditors attributed the delays in headquarters construction in part to a provision U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District added to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that halted money on Space Command’s headquarters pending the outcome of two reviews: this one and one by the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
The halt has since lapsed, but as of March, Space Command officials told GAO auditors, there were, “no updates on funding” for headquarters construction in Colorado Springs.
Rogers said in an emailed statement that the report “yet again affirms” that Huntsville is the best location for Space Command headquarters. He accused Biden of putting political concerns ahead of national security.
“This blatant interference and politization of a critical decision on national security would cost the taxpayer over $420 million,” Rogers said. “President Trump chose the best location for SPACECOM headquarters. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to rectify yet another one of Biden’s national security blunders.”
Republican Rep. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs posted on X, “The release of today’s GAO Report is clear: Colorado Springs is the best home for U.S. Space Command’s headquarters. Continued efforts to move the headquarters only hurts our national security.”
In a statement to AL.com, Strong pointed out that the GAO report highlights, “inadequate and dispersed facilities, staffing shortages, and outdated infrastructure” in and around Peterson Space Force Base.
“Keeping the headquarters in Colorado Springs is projected to cost the taxpayer $426 million more than it would to transition to Huntsville,” he said. “It’s time to move forward with what’s best for national security and bring U.S. Space Command Headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama.”
The latest re-evaluation of the selection of a permanent headquarters for the U.S. military’s newest combatant command reveals a handful of new details in the yearslong process. But it does not resolve the central conflict over cost vs. readiness, with the Air Force emphasizing the former in preferring Redstone Arsenal and Space Command the latter in preferring Colorado Springs.
While the new report reiterates that the U.S. Air Force’s recommendation the command be moved to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama is largely justified by the service’s own selection criteria, it offers new details that auditors say call into question the validity of the Air Force’s conclusions.
A key sticking point – the disagreement between the Air Force and Space Command over how strongly to weigh costs vs. interruption of readiness – remains unresolved in part because a consultant hired by the Air Force to study the matter did not sufficiently document the process by which it arrived at $426 million in estimated cost savings by moving the command to Redstone.
GAO auditors noted the Air Force itself assigned a confidence level to the cost savings of just 5%, which they called, “a low level of confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the estimate.” As a result, the GAO report stated, some of the cost benefits the Air Force attributed to a move to Redstone “were not rooted in complete or reliable analysis.”
The GAO’s review is the second of two requested by Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. Last year, he asked the GAO and the Department of Defense Inspector General to investigate the siting decision.
In April, the Pentagon’s IG report revealed concerns at the highest levels of Space Command that up to a thousand crucial civilian employees would refuse to relocate from Colorado to Alabama if the headquarters were to be moved to Redstone Arsenal.
The GAO report, in turn, points to Space Command’s continued problems in hiring civilian staffers, which are expected to make up 60% of overall command staff. As of October, Space Command had filled just 1,024 of 1,379 authorized positions, including 576 of 809 government civilian positions.
The challenge arose due to “uncertainty regarding the Command’s final location and the complexities of hiring government civilians over the more straightforward process of assigning military personnel,” auditors wrote.
About 380 temporary contractor personnel have been working for Space Command in Colorado Springs since it reached full operational capacity in December 2023.
Space Command is the unified combat command for military space operations. The U.S. Space Force trains and equips most forces under Space Command, though the latter includes small elements from the other service branches.
Space Command is charged with defending space and delivering space capabilities to joint and combined U.S. and allied forces. Locating the command in Huntsville would bring at least 1,600 new jobs, AL.com has reported.
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