The Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday it will investigate the Trump administration’s decision to relocate the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Alabama.
The office says it will look into whether the decision “complied with Department of Defense and Air Force policies” and whether “objective and relevant scoring factors” were used in making the decision.
The Trump administration announced on Jan. 13 that the Space Command headquarters would be in Huntsville, Alabama, infuriating Republican and Democratic officials alike in Colorado.
Leading politicians, including Gov. Jared Polis and all nine members of Colorado’s congressional delegation, asked the Biden administration to reconsider the decision and investigate whether the Trump administration’s choice was politically motivated.
Space Command headquarters is temporarily located in Colorado Springs. The city was slated to host the headquarters until at least 2026, when it would receive a permanent home.
Colorado leaders have been working to secure the headquarters for years. The command is expected to bring more than 1,400 troops and civilian workers and proponents of keeping the headquarters in Colorado say it would mesh well with the state’s large aerospace industry.
“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,” said U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican.
