Sen. Tuberville, Sen. Britt meet with U.S. Space Command officials about location of headquarters

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAFF) - United States Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville along with the Alabama Delegation met with U.S. Space Command officials about the location of Space Command headquarters.

According to Sen. Britt, the delegation met with U.S. Space Command Commander General James Dickinson on Wednesday.

“General Dickinson just confirmed to us that the headquarters of U.S. Space Command belongs on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. This is no surprise, because it’s what the facts clearly support. The White House must keep politics out of this. It’s past time for them to do what’s best for our national security,” Sen. Britt said in a statement.

A report from NBC in May claimed the White House was laying the groundwork to not move the headquarters to Redstone Arsenal due to Alabama’s abortion laws.

Today, the Alabama delegation met with @US_SpaceCom Commander Gen Dickinson.

Just like the GAO and DoD IG report Gen Dickinson confirmed Huntsville is the preferred location of Space Command headquarters.

Enough is enough, it’s time to bring @US_SpaceCom home to Huntsville.
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) June 7, 2023

U.S. Representative Dale Strong released a statement in April about the delays in the decision to move Space Command headquarters.

“After years of review, the fact is, Redstone Arsenal is the best location to permanently house U.S. Space Command. While we wait for the final decision to be announced, I want to lay out the facts. Redstone Arsenal had the top score of all sites based on qualified workforce, value to the taxpayer, proximity to other relevant space agencies, cost of living for American servicemembers and civilian personnel and overall force protection requirements.

Simply put, Redstone Arsenal was chosen to house the permanent headquarters of the U.S. Space Command, because it is best for national security and the American people. During a May 2022 briefing, GAO shared that there was, and I quote, “A large break between the top two candidates and everyone else.” To translate, Redstone Arsenal, the number one preference and Kirtland Air Force Base the number two preference were vastly more qualified to house Space Command headquarters than any other site, including Peterson.

Just walked out of a meeting with @US_SpaceCom Commander GEN Dickinson. I was assured by him that he couldn’t envision any circumstance where he wouldn’t recommend Huntsville as the permanent SPACECOM HQ. He had no concerns with the initial decision.
— Dale W. Strong (@RepDaleStrong) June 7, 2023

The Department of Defense Inspector General’s final report, found the Air Force’s basing process, “complied with all law and policy and was reasonable in identifying Huntsville as the preferred location.” Redstone Arsenal was chosen to house the permanent headquarters of the U.S. Space Command because it is best for national security and the American people.”

The Government Accountability Office released its report on the relocation process of Space Command’s headquarters in June 2022.

GAO Report Highlights by Charles Montgomery

The report supported the decision to move Space Command’s headquarters to Huntsville despite finding issues with “transparency and credibility” by the United States Air Force in the selection process.

The report found the U.S. Air Force ranked candidate locations on 21 criteria, but only fully or substantially met seven best practices, did not meet one best practice and only partially or minimally met 13 other practices.

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