DENVER (AP) — The Department of Defense’s inspector normal introduced Friday that it was reviewing the Trump administration’s last-minute determination to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.
The determination on Jan. 13, one week earlier than Trump left workplace, blindsided Colorado officers and raised questions of political retaliation. Trump had hinted at a Colorado Springs rally in 2020 that the command would keep at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
But the person with whom Trump held that rally, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, misplaced his reelection bid in November, and Colorado, in contrast to Alabama, voted decisively in opposition to Trump. The Air Force’s last-minute relocation of command headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama — dwelling of the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal — blindsided Colorado officers of each events, who’ve urged the Biden administration to rethink the choice.
On Friday, the inspector normal’s workplace introduced it was investigating whether or not the relocation complied with Air Force and Pentagon coverage and was primarily based on correct evaluations of competing areas.
Colorado officers of each events had been thrilled. “It is imperative that we thoroughly review what I believe will prove to be a fundamentally flawed process that focused on bean-counting rather than American space dominance,” stated Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican whose district consists of Space Command.
The state’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, additionally hailed the probe. “Moving Space Command will disrupt the mission while risking our national security and economic vitality,” the senators stated in a joint assertion. “Politics have no role to play in our national security. We fully support the investigation.”
Among different duties, the Space Command allows satellite-based navigation and troop communication and offers warning of missile launches. Also primarily based at Peterson are the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and the U.S. Northern Command.
The Space Command differs from the U.S. Space Force, launched in December 2019 as the primary new navy service for the reason that Air Force was created in 1947.
The Space Command isn’t a person navy service however a central command for military-wide area operations. It operated at Peterson from 1985 till it was dissolved in 2002, and it was revived in 2019.
The Air Force accepted bids from areas for the command when it was revived and was contemplating six finalists, together with Huntsville, when Trump hinted it’d keep in Colorado Springs.
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