{"id":22194,"date":"2021-02-21T19:28:18","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T19:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/21\/defense-department-inspector-general-reviews-trump-relocation-of-space-command\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:58:12","slug":"defense-department-inspector-general-reviews-trump-relocation-of-space-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2021\/02\/21\/defense-department-inspector-general-reviews-trump-relocation-of-space-command\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense Department inspector general reviews Trump relocation of Space Command"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DENVER \u2014 The Department of Defense\u2019s inspector general announced Friday that it was reviewing the Trump administration\u2019s last-minute decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision on Jan. 13, one week before Trump left office, blindsided Colorado officials <\/a>and raised questions of political retaliation. Trump had hinted at a Colorado Springs rally in 2020 that the command would stay at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the man with whom Trump held that rally, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, lost his reelection bid in November, and Colorado, unlike Alabama, voted decisively against Trump. The Air Force\u2019s last-minute relocation of command headquarters <\/a>to Huntsville, Alabama \u2014 home of the U.S. Army\u2019s Redstone Arsenal \u2014 blindsided Colorado officials of both parties, who have urged the Biden administration to reconsider the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, the inspector general\u2019s office announced it was investigating whether the relocation complied with Air Force and Pentagon policy and was based on proper evaluations of competing locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colorado officials of both parties were thrilled. \u201cIt is imperative that we thoroughly review what I believe will prove to be a fundamentally flawed process that focused on bean-counting rather than American space dominance,\u201d said Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican whose district includes Space Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s two Democratic U.S. senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, also hailed the probe. \u201cMoving Space Command will disrupt the mission while risking our national security and economic vitality,\u201d the senators said in a joint statement. \u201cPolitics have no role to play in our national security. We fully support the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t