{"id":37454,"date":"2021-02-05T21:12:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T21:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/05\/politics-should-not-determine-location-for-us-space-command\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:24:19","slug":"politics-should-not-determine-location-for-us-space-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2021\/02\/05\/politics-should-not-determine-location-for-us-space-command\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics should not determine location for US Space Command"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Space is the next frontier and the most critical domain for near-peer competition with Russia and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and former chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, I believe that the integrated mission of the U.S. Space Command is critical to our future security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all centralized military commands, Space needs a headquarters location, and last year the U.S. Air Force embarked on a metrics-based process to determine which state would best suit the mission. Unfortunately, on the way out the door \u2014 and with politics, not process in mind \u2014 it appears the outgoing secretary of the Air Force rushed to a decision to locate the new U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) headquarters in Alabama. <\/b>Just days before leaving office, she may have ignored the six-month merit-based process and deprived the incoming administration the opportunity to review and make the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, this would not be the first time I have seen a secretary of the Air Force potentially make a decision based on politics, not process. In fact, the people in that job have a history of choosing where to headquarter new commands without the mission, war fighter and taxpayer in mind. They ignore the site selection criteria they themselves design. I have seen this firsthand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2008-2009, the Department of Defense executed a six-month merit-based selection process to find a new location for the new U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command headquarters. The new command centralized strategic deterrence, global strike and combat support. It was projected to generate 900 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like the recent U.S. Space Command process, six locations were selected as finalists for the Global Strike Command headquarters, with my home state\u2019s Offutt Air Force base in Bellevue, Nebraska, among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\t