House GOP demands investigation into Space Command headquarters pick

WASHINGTON (CN) — Weeks after the White House announced it would not follow through with a proposal to move the U.S. Space Command’s headquarters, a top House Republican is urging an investigation by Congress.

Lawmakers for weeks have balked at the Pentagon’s decision in late June to make permanent Space Command’s temporary headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a move that scuttled a Trump administration proposal to move the base to Huntsville, Alabama. Leading the charge in the House has been Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers, who has decried the about-face as a political ploy.

Rogers, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, has demanded that the Defense Department turn over a trove of documents related to the basing decision. He also issued summonses this week for Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Space Command lead General James Dickinson and Space Force operations chief General Chance Saltzman to testify at a forthcoming congressional hearing on the matter.

Now, the Alabama lawmaker has demanded that the Government Accountability Office investigate what he has called “untoward political influence” in the selection process for Space Command’s headquarters.

“National security decisions of this magnitude and significant economic interest require the process to be standardized, repeatable, transparent, and deliberate,” Rogers told U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro in a letter dated Wednesday. “Based on numerous administration officials talking to the press, the decision by President Biden appears to be anything but.”

The lawmaker requested that Congress’s independent watchdog organization look into what he positioned as the “last minute” decision to keep Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs. Although the Air Force had designated Huntsville as the ideal base location, U.S. military officials said in June that Space Command General Dickinson had convinced the White House to alter course.

Rogers also seeks additional details on the basing selection process and whether the criteria for a potential headquarters changed during deliberations.

“Long-term, permanent basing decisions should stand up to scrutiny and not be politically motivated based on social policy preferences or based on advocacy by Administration officials,” the Alabama Republican wrote. “Instead, such a process should remain analytical and focused on clearly announced criteria and requirements that can be publicly scrutinized.”

The Pentagon has said that the decision to keep Space Command headquarters in Colorado was borne out of a need for military readiness — arguing that moving the base could disrupt operations. Officials have also pushed back on the notion that the selection process was used as a political cudgel, framing the basing review as “thorough and deliberate.”

Against this backdrop, however, the administration has walled off Alabama amid an ongoing standoff between the White House and Yellowhammer State Senator Tommy Tuberville.

Personally opposed to the military reimbursing servicemembers if they must travel to obtain an abortion or other reproductive health care, Tuberville is behind a heckler’s veto in the Senate that has singlehandedly held up the confirmation of new military officials. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps are now all without congressionally confirmed leaders, thanks to the Alabama Republican’s revolt.

Meanwhile, Rogers has threatened to subpoena the Air Force and Space Command for documents and communications related to the basing deliberations. The lawmaker suggested in a letter to Air Force Secretary Kendall that the military’s refusal to follow through on information requests from Congress “can only be considered obfuscation and purposeful delay.”

It’s not just Alabama Republicans that have recoiled at the Space Command basing decision. Representative Teri Sewell, a Democrat, has joined her GOP colleagues in criticizing the administration for bowing to the “whims of politics over merit.” Sewell said earlier this month that Huntsville, which is in her district, “won this selection process fair and square based on the merits.”

The GAO reported in June 2022 that the Air Force “did not fully or substantially meet” best practices while reviewing its options for a potential Space Command headquarters. The military survey that ranked Huntsville as a top choice did not conduct an independent, third-party review and did not complete a full cost estimate for such a project, the audit found.

Follow @BenjaminSWeiss