Putting SPACECOM HQ in Alabama would have saved Pentagon $426 mil, DOD IG says
But then-SPACECOM commander Gen. Dickinson was worried the move would result in significant personnel losses.
Audrey Decker | April 15, 2025
Space White House Congress
Alabama remained the Air Force’s “preferred location” for U.S. Space Command’s permanent headquarters through multiple reviews—and moving it there would have saved the Pentagon hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general.
The long-awaited, heavily redacted report on the Biden administration’s decision to base the command in Colorado over Alabama comes as President Trump is expected to relocate the command imminently.
The command has operated out of Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs since its inception in 2019. But the location for a permanent home has been the subject of a years-long political debate, with the Biden administration reversing President Trump’s decision to move the command’s headquarters to Huntsville.
The report found that between June 2022 and June 2023, the Air Force conducted four reviews, all of which pointed to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama as the desired location. The “one-time cost” of moving to Alabama was $426 million less than remaining in Colorado because of lower personnel and construction costs, the report said. These findings follow prior investigations by the DOD IG and Government Accountability Office, which also backed the move to Alabama.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/04/putting-spacecom-hq-alabama-would-have-saved-pentagon-426-mil-dod-ig-says/404586/?oref=d1-category-lander-river
