When Barbara Barrett became 25th secretary of the U.S. Air Force in October, she announced in a can-do tweet that she was ready to “get to work.” Pentagon watchers took this to mean that, among other things, Barrett would promptly announce the home for U.S. Space Command, which President Trump reactivated last summer after a 17-year hiatus. As 2020 commences, though, Space Command remains adrift, aswirl in a vortex of politics and with no sign of docking.
In August, the newly appointed head of Space Command, Gen. John Raymond, discussed the timeline for naming a permanent headquarters for the Pentagon’s 11th combatant command. “Yeah, so there’s a process underway today,” Raymond told reporters, saying that the Air Force was in charge of the selection process and had identified six candidate bases. Four sites were in Colorado, and one each in Alabama and California. “Those bases are being evaluated,” Raymond explained. All would be analyzed carefully, he said, and the secretary of the Air Force would make the final call.
It still hasn’t been made.
“When will the site be announced? That’s a very good question. It’s one we’re still waiting on,” said the dual-hatted U.S. Space Force / Space Command spokesman, Maj. David Alpar, who talked to the Washington Examiner from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. “When Secretary Bennett came in, we expected to have an answer fairly soon. But she wants to take her time.”
The likely juncture? “We won’t have a decision for another 12 to 24 months,” Alpar said.
The indecision strikes some as puzzling: The previous incarnation of Space Command (not to be confused with the newly formed Space Force) spent 17 years at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the new headquarters temporarily is located. Everything connected to Space Command — the facilities, the space warfighters, the supporting brain trust, the “full-blown everything,” as one Pentagon-based civilian described it — is in Colorado.
“The temporary headquarters is already there,” said retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Power Studies in Arlington, Virginia. “They’re running it now out of Colorado Springs.”
And yet, other possible basing locations rotate on and off the short list at a vertiginous pace.
“A few locales were in contention, and now more states have been added,” Alpar said.
Depending on when the question is asked, the answer to “whither Space Command?” is a list of maybes: Alabama, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Texas. As of early January, one previous no-go state, Florida, reemerged as a strong contender.
“What this shows is that there are other factors, like politics and the election calendar, that are not supposed to be part of this but have worked their way into the decision process,” said Todd Harrison, who leads the space security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “Some of these places I understand, but others, like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, don’t belong on the list.”
“Are politics coming into play? Of course,” Deptula said. “You have the Alabama delegation fighting very hard to get the headquarters in Huntsville. Same with other delegations trying to do the same for their own jurisdictions.”
The lobbying began early and with intensity. In December 2018, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wrote to the secretary of defense, James Mattis, saying that his state’s long history “as the U.S. gateway to the stars” is the reason Florida should house Space Command. In March 2019, Louisiana’s Republican Rep. Ralph Abraham sent a pitch to Trump, saying his state has “unique qualities ideally suited to support Space Command’s growth and development.” Also in March, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that his state was the best choice because it is home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
“The delegations all have their reasons for why it should go in their home states,” said defense analyst Peter Huessy, president of the Potomac, Maryland-based Geostrategic Analysis. “Everyone has their case.”
At stake are billions of dollars in economic potential in the form of contracts, purchases, and payroll; tens of thousands of jobs; and key electoral votes. While the de facto headquarter state, Colorado, has nine electoral votes, two contender states have far more. Florida, with its Cape Canaveral launch center, has 29; California, with its Vandenberg Air Force Base (a primary second headquarters for Space Command), has 55. Hence the longer-than-expected timeline that may bring resolution only after the November elections.
“I suspect that this decision is going to be pulled up to a higher level,” Harrison said. “I suspect that the White House will have a say.”
“This is unprecedented that a basing decision would go to the White House,” one defense insider told the Washington Examiner. “I think this is really about electoral votes and how it will play out.”
The jostling and jockeying are bad for the country, observers say, in that they evade the most important issue.
“The real question is, what’s in the best interest of the defense of the United States?” Deptula said. “You have to put the defense of the country first.”
In that sense, the arguments for Colorado make practical sense. Facilities already are in place throughout the state. In addition to being the temporary Space Command headquarters, Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs is home to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command. Schriever Air Force Base, also in Colorado Springs, hosts the Missile Defense Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and other units devoted to space operations. Buckley Air Force Base, outside of Denver, supports missile warning capabilities, space surveillance operations, space communications operations, and more.
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado has joked that his state should prevail because it is “a mile closer to space” than primary rival Florida. In an April letter to then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, though, Crow and fellow Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter joined local leaders in very seriously making the case for Buckley. In advocating for their home base, with its history of space projects and proximity to major defense contractors such as Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and more, the group also championed the state overall.
“To be successful, USSPACECOM will have to recruit and retain a high-quality civilian workforce,” the advocates wrote. “Colorado ranks first in the nation for its concentration of aerospace jobs, including 28,140 military personnel and 27,190 in the private sector, both focusing solely on space.”
Colorado’s combination of military and civilian facilities dedicated to space defense is unique to the Centennial State, others say.
“The preponderance of facilities are in Colorado,” Deptula said. “In terms of setting up an organizational headquarters for this newest unified combatant command, it makes sense to put it where the preponderance of resources are located to conduct these functions.”
The former head of Air Force Space Command agrees. “If you’re the commander of U.S. Space Command, you want to have a lot of the forces central to your mission nearby,” said retired four-star Gen. William Shelton. “In Colorado Springs, you’ve got them nearby.” Additionally, he said, moving them to a new locale would be challenging. “It would be expensive to uproot them and move them en masse.”
The presence of private industry and federal laboratories are a bonus, Shelton said. “It’s an opportunity for public-private partnerships. There’s opportunities right there at Peterson Air Force Base.”
Not that such partnerships don’t exist elsewhere in regard to space operations. Florida, for example, has an entire state agency, Space Florida, devoted to its eponymous purpose and to fostering robust collaborations. But while Florida has been at what Rubio described as the “epicenter of space,” the state has focused on the commercial aspects of reaching beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Alabama, for its part, has both an Army space facility and a civilian NASA propulsion research center, but neither represents a major portion of the national military space mission.
Security of the command itself also should be considered. “If there is an attack on the headquarters from off the coast, a headquarters in Colorado would be easier to defend,” Shelton said.
The progress of time might make the basing question moot. “The longer the headquarters stays in Colorado Springs, the likelier it is to stay there,” Harrison said. And yet, the question remains unresolved.
“It’s very serious,” the defense insider said. “We could make a really bad decision here.”
“Don’t get it wrong,” the security analyst Huessy warned.
The command itself hints at two primary finalists. In its official press releases, U.S. Space Command has begun using alternate datelines, at Peterson Air Force Base and at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base.
To where, then, should Space Command phone home? “It makes the most sense to keep it at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado,” Harrison said. “You have the facilities you need. You have the people there. It would provide the least amount of disruption.”
The retired generals concur. “It’s a slam dunk case for Colorado,” Shelton concluded. Echoed Deptula: “There’s only one answer. Leave them in Colorado.”
Susan Katz Keating is a Washington Examiner senior editor.
