Feb 20, 2021 - Politics & Policy

DoD watchdog to review Trump's U.S. Space Command relocation

Jacob Knutson

Former President Trump with U.S. Space Force Senior Enlisted Advisor CMSgt Roger Towberma. — Former President Trump with U.S. Space Force Senior Enlisted Advisor CMSgt Roger Towberma in the White House in May 2020. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Defense's inspector general announced Friday it will review the Trump administration's decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama.

Why it matters: The inspector general will investigate whether the decision — announced a week before Trump left office — complied with Air Force and Pentagon policy.

Between the lines: At a campaign rally in Colorado Springs in 2020, Trump signaled the command would remain at Peterson Air Force Base, AP reports.

Trump held the rally with then Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who lost his 2020 reelection bid, and Colorado, unlike Alabama, voted against Trump in November.
Multiple states, including Florida and Texas, waged lobbying campaigns with the Trump administration to host the site of the new headquarters.

The big picture: The last-minute change to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama blindsided Colorado officials, who have urged the Biden administration to reconsider, according to AP.

Space Command — established in 2019 as a unified combatant command — is designed to help protect space assets that the military relies on for all types of warfighting, Axios' Miriam Kramer and Jonathan Swan report.
The headquarters is expected to bring with it upward of 1,500 jobs.

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DoD watchdog to review Trump's U.S. Space Command relocation

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