Space Command headquarters saga drags on with another delay and a flurry of political maneuvering

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Another day, another delay.

The Air Force top brass is holding back on their decision on whether to move the U.S. Space Command headquarters from its current temporary home right here in Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama, again.

The move is something lawmakers in Colorado are fighting back against, hard, calling it a costly and dangerous mistake.

Since the preferred site selection decision came down in 2021, both cities have been left in limbo.

Just this week Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and other lawmakers sent President Joe Biden a letter arguing the current threats to national security are real and now not a time to be rebuilding a new headquarters in Alabama.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, quizzed U.S. Space Command Commander General James H. Dickinson this week about the important readiness question and the ability to reach full operational capability.”

“We are moving towards full operational capability in the provisional headquarters we have in Colorado Springs,” Dickinson said.

Colorado lawmakers have argued all along the decision to move Space Command HQ to Huntsville was purely based on what former President Donald Trump desired. But a series of audits and reviews called for by Colorado lawmakers actually found Huntsville was the top pick. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville included comments with an exchange on the process this week with Dickinson. Tuberville said Colorado Springs was actually the 5th pick for the headquarters, not even in the top three under consideration.

Congressman Lamborn and dozens of other Colorado lawmakers point to the Department of Defense continued investments in their Peterson Space Force base location as another reason to keep the headquarters in COS.