by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General has announced an investigation into the U.S. Air Force’s controversial decision to locate U.S. Space Command’s headquarters at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.

In a letter to the U.S. Air Force secretary, the office said it would investigate whether the decision process:

• “complied with DoD and Air Force policies during the location selection process;
• used objective and relevant scoring factors to rank the six candidate locations; and
• calculated the cost and other scoring factors accurately and consistently among the six candidate locations.”

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Colorado’s nine-member Congressional delegation has asked President Joe Biden to suspend the move of the U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala., until the administration conducts a full review of a decision made during the waning days of the Trump Administration.

“This move undermines our ability to respond to the threats in space and is disruptive to the current mission. Additionally, significant evidence exists that the process was neither fair nor impartial and that President [Donald] Trump’s political considerations influenced the final decision,” the delegation said in a Jan. 26 letter to the president.

The U.S. Air Force announced the move of the U.S. Space Command from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville on Jan. 13, one week before Trump left office and a week after Congress certified the election of Democrat Joe Biden.

WASHINGTON (AFNS) — The Department of the Air Force, on behalf of the Office of Secretary of Defense, has selected six candidate locations for the U.S. Space Command Headquarters.

The six locations include Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; Offutt AFB, Nebraska; Patrick AFB, Florida; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; Port San Antonio, Texas; and Redstone Army Airfield, Alabama.

Self-nominated communities from across 24 states were evaluated as potential locations for hosting the headquarters. 

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (U.S. Space Force PR) — The U.S. Space Force stood up a provisional Space Training and Readiness command at Peterson Air Force Base during a pre-recorded virtual ceremony today.

The stand-up of STAR Delta Provisional is a critical step to building a lean, agile and future-focused Space Force.

The Delta will be led by Col. Pete Flores and will serve as the parent organization for a number of education, training, test and evaluation units for the Space Force.

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (U.S. Space Force PR) — Without highly trained space professionals, the U.S. Space Force cannot effectively utilize space systems to increase joint force lethality, cannot ensure the safety of the American public, nor can it defend against near-peer adversaries.

“Our modern lives depend on our space capabilities, and potential adversaries are actively attempting to exploit the benefits space provides us,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Sebeck, 319th Combat Training Squadron commander. “Every day our space warfighters purposefully prepare to negate potential adversaries’ attempts to claim space superiority over us.”