Space command belongs in Colorado

It is clear that if the United States must ever fight a war against China, Russia, or, later, nations such as Iran or North Korea, that conflict may be won or lost in space. So, locating the command headquarters properly now, to get maximum effectiveness, is crucial.

As I detailed last week, China and Russia are well aware of this concern. Those most potent U.S. adversaries have spent the past decade investing in space weapons and sensors that are designed almost exclusively to blind and circumvent the American military. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping realize that their ability to dominate or disrupt space activities would enable their forces to launch devastating surprise attacks and undermine our ability to employ military forces or support America’s allies.

This takes on added concern because Beijing and Moscow display utter disdain for international law. Rather than attempting to shield civilians from the harm of space-based warfare, China and Russia view their ability to hit civilian populations as instrumental facets of strategy. The credible dominance of space is therefore central to America’s economic, social, and security future.

But, in line with Washington’s penchant for doing things backward and inefficiently, the Air Force is currently contemplating a choice that would get this most important mission off on the wrong track. The obvious and overwhelmingly preferable choice for the Space Force’s Command headquarters is to keep it at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, but the Air Force is also considering five other locations — New Mexico’s Kirtland Air Force Base, Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base, Florida’s Patrick Air Force Base, Alabama’s Redstone Army Air Field, and Texas’s Port San Antonio.

It’s no surprise that so many cities and states want Space Command. The economic benefits it will bring, the tens of thousands of personnel and their associated entertainment and business needs, are huge and obvious. Mayor John Suthers of Colorado Springs told the Washington Examiner, “In the last five years, the citizens of Colorado Springs have invested a billion dollars in critical public infrastructure, including in transportation infrastructure that aids the missions of all our military installations. … We’re experienced. We’re equipped. We’re ready.”

But thoughts about the economic benefits that would flow to the host location of Space Command are low on the list of what should be considered in the forthcoming decision. (The Washington Examiner is part of the Anschutz Corporation, which is based in Colorado.) What should be front and center in Air Force decision-making are the nation’s exigent defense interests. Those overwhelmingly make the case for Peterson Air Force Base.

First, America does not have time on its side because it has allowed its biggest strategic rivals to get ahead of it. While the Air Force debates where to establish Space Command, China and Russia are pushing ahead with their own space weapons programs. No interest is served by unnecessary wavering except that of our probable enemies.

Another important consideration is infrastructure. Eight of the nine Space Operations Command “Deltas,” or front-line operational units, are already based in Colorado. They are established there and operational, and it would be a monstrous waste of many billions of dollars, and of precious time, to move them elsewhere. These critical elements of the Space Force are already working each day, with all their related infrastructure in and around Peterson and two other Colorado Air Force bases. Relocating Space Command, moving the headquarters to a different state from its main operational components, or relocating all the components along with it, would be a decision that has nothing to do with operation effectiveness and everything to do with politics. The Biden administration is likely to cut defense spending; the idea of additionally wasting billions to make the wrong decision about Space Command would be an act of culpable folly.

The Space Force will have tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel, hundreds of facilities, and an annual budget of more than $10 billion. To fulfill its mission credibly and do so with confidence that the mission could be sustained in the fog of war, Space Command relies on an array of highly advanced and multiply redundant command and control systems. It must sustain defensive and offensive operations, even where its own and other U.S. military forces are under heavy attack. During war, Space Command would face simultaneous, potent, and relentless cyber, electronic, and kinetic warfare attacks. For example, Russia has deployed satellite weapons specifically designed to close in on and destroy U.S. military and intelligence satellites. It’s not enough for America to have excellent platforms in space and cyberspace, as it does; it must also ensure that these platforms are able to keep operating while under attack. Likewise, our military commanders must be able to use these platforms flexibly on a battlefield that extends beyond Earth’s atmosphere. To deter war, Space Command must by its very existence and potency strike fear into the heart of any prospective adversary.

The only base to offer anything close to what Peterson does is Offutt Air Force Base, home to the U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for nuclear warfare operations and associated command and control. It has the redundant command and control infrastructure, but putting Space Command in the same place as Strategic Command would run the unacceptable risk that both could be wiped out simultaneously in a cyber or nuclear attack on one location.

Florida’s Patrick Air Force Base is on the Atlantic Coast, which makes it vulnerable to a devastating attack within minutes from Russian sea-based platforms such as its conventional-nuclear versatile Kanyon underwater drone system. Kanyon is designed to match covert delivery with high-impact effect. It is built to attack America. Patrick’s coastal location also makes it more vulnerable to various Chinese and Russian electronic warfare platforms, some of which could be successfully employed from international waters. It would allow enemies to shorten the “warning time” for an incoming strike against Space Command dramatically. In contrast, Peterson, located deep in the American mainland, has natural protection.

Peterson’s superiority over other sites is so clear that it raises the question of why there is still any question about relocating. The answer lies, improperly, at the intersection of economics and politics.

Space Command offers lucrative benefits, which powerful political interests want for selfish reasons. Todd Harrison emphasized this to the Washington Examiner earlier this year. The head of the space security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Harrison said “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. Some of these [states] I understand, but others, like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana [an earlier applicant for the headquarters], don’t belong on the list.”

Another good reason that Peterson should retain the headquarters is proximity, just a 30-minute drive, to the U.S. Air Force Academy. The academy is a four-hour flight from Patrick Air Force Base and nearly nine hours by road from Offutt. This geography is important, as it can make Space Command more or less attractive to military personnel in the decades to come.

Space is going to become more important in war fighting. Personnel from all departments of the military are eligible to apply for Space Force service. But it is the Air Force that will supply the overwhelming number of key staff. The health of the Space Force will rest on persuading more of the best officer cadets to seek positions in Space Operations and Cyberspace Operations. Fewer than 9% of this year’s Air Force Academy graduates were assigned to the Space Force, and it’s not clear how many of these second lieutenants chose their billets in preference to pursuing careers as Air Force pilots or in intelligence. It is important that more cadets put Space Force positions at the top of their preference lists, which means it’s important to make Space Force more attractive.

It would certainly help to make it clear that promotion, career development, and money favored space operations officers. One imagines that resumes including the words “cyberspace operations officer” will be attractive to employers in the civilian technology and financial sectors. But permanently hosting Space Command headquarters at Peterson would also help redress the balance. With Space Command close to the academy, there is no reason why the Air Force couldn’t introduce on-site Space Force-related military instruction into its required curriculum. As the Space Force develops its training and combat experience, cadets would be able to get some of the world’s most advanced and unconventional cyberspace and space-proper training. Air Force cadets might be smarter, healthier, and more patriotic than most of their fellow 20-something Americans, but they’re still young adults, with the same eye on incentives, and access to innovative training would make reciprocal service choices more attractive to them.

There are also bureaucratic advantages to keeping Space Command at Peterson. Although its officers are apolitical, like all military services, the Air Force retains a distinct political culture. Networking is a significant interest for prospective second lieutenants, especially for those who intend to spend their entire careers in uniform. If young officers know that choosing the Space Force will give them unparalleled access to senior officers and formative opportunities while they are still at the academy, they’ll have added reason to take advantage of that. The Air Force bureaucracy must be lubricated in a way that makes it easier rather than harder for the Space Force to flourish.

The importance of this should not be underestimated. As an example of how the military bureaucracy tends to waste opportunities, consider that out of the entire 2019 Air Force Academy intake, the last class for which information about language skills is publicly available, not one incoming cadet was proficient in Mandarin. When it comes to the Space Force, we must ensure that the best Air Force officers are focused on dealing with the threats of the future. Making the Space Force a natural adjunct of the academy is one valuable way to do so.

This is not, or should not be, a terribly complicated matter. Peterson Air Force Base was selected as the provisional Space Command headquarters because it best provided an immediate stand-up for that command. Politicians from other states might say otherwise, but the evidence clearly indicates that Space Command should stay where it is.

Tom Rogan is a foreign policy-focused commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.