Trump announces U.S. Space Command HQ will move from Colorado to Alabama

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the headquarters for U.S. Space Command will relocate from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama — ending a years-long turf war over where the combatant command responsible for military space operations should be permanently located.

“Most importantly, this decision will help America defend and dominate the high frontier,” Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office.

The location for Spacecom HQ has been an ongoing debate within the Defense Department and Congress since its reestablishment in 2019 — one that has led to multiple investigations by the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Much of the discussions were led by lawmakers representing Colorado and Alabama, with both sides arguing that their respective districts were best suited to host the command. 

Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has served as the interim Spacecom headquarters for the last six years. The combatant command is responsible for coordinating military activities in the space domain, such as satellite communications, defensive operations and missile warning and defense.

In 2021, Trump officially picked Huntsville — home of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal and Missile Defense Command — as the preferred headquarters just before he left the White House following his first term as president. That basing decision was overturned in 2023 when the Biden administration announced that Spacecom’s permanent headquarters would remain in Colorado Springs.

The Pentagon’s OIG and the GAO conducted separate investigations into the Defense Department’s basing review process in 2022, finding that early studies done by the Department of the Air Force determined moving Spacecom to Alabama was the most cost-effective option. However, the reports noted that DOD officials under the Biden administration were concerned that the time it would take to move the base would negatively impact the command’s overall readiness.

A second DOD OIG report published in April echoed past investigations, finding that the Department of the Air Force preferred Huntsville while Space Command leadership wanted its headquarters to stay in Colorado due to concerns personnel would not relocate and that it would take roughly three to four years to construct new facilities and establish secure communications.

“DAF officials described the cost to the taxpayer as the ‘primary driver’ of its preference for [Redstone Arsenal] as the permanent location for USSPACECOM’s permanent HQ while USSPACECOM leadership prioritized minimizing the risk to readiness,” the second OIG report stated.