{"id":38697,"date":"2020-12-18T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/18\/spend-funds-on-space-dominance-not-moving-space-commands-headquarters\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:11:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:11:44","slug":"spend-funds-on-space-dominance-not-moving-space-commands-headquarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/12\/18\/spend-funds-on-space-dominance-not-moving-space-commands-headquarters\/","title":{"rendered":"Spend funds on space dominance, not moving Space Command\u2019s headquarters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is a growing consensus in Washington that 2021 will see a flattening of U.S. defense spending<\/a> in fiscal 2022 and beyond. This is even more likely<\/a> under the incoming Biden administration, despite consistent testimony by our military leaders that we need 3-5 percent real growth in the defense budget to maintain our competitive edge over our near-peer competitors, Russia and China. Tough choices will have to be made, but the priority in our reorientation toward great power competition should be shoring up American space dominance. Some of our nation\u2019s most experienced space war fighters have explained<\/a> why this is the case<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of reorganizing national security space was always to move quickly, keep costs low and eliminate stifling bureaucracy. This is so we can provide our space war fighters the increased authorities and resources needed to maintain our space dominance. As Gen. John \u201cJay\u201d Raymond, the Space Force\u2019s chief of space operations, said last month, Space Force and Space Command have to stay \u201clean, agile and fast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have had the privilege of being a part of this grand initiative since its beginning, when a bipartisan effort at reforming our national security space enterprise was launched by the House Strategic Forces Subcommittee in 2016. I helped fight for these reforms, led by Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., partly because I knew our country had the necessary personnel and infrastructure already \u2014 it is in Colorado Springs<\/a> and always has been. We simply needed as a country to get administrative roadblocks out of the way to enable our space professionals to excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1985 until 2002, U.S. Space Command\u2019s headquarters was in Colorado Springs. Since August 2019, it is back in Colorado Springs on a provisional basis. Even when the space war-fighting function fell under U.S. Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska, from 2002-2019, the men and women executing the mission remained in Colorado. As such, America\u2019s space war-fighting ecosystem has grown up along the Front Range of Colorado. Taxpayers have invested billions of dollars into Colorado Springs, much of which would be squandered if USSPACECOM is uprooted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past 15 years, over $350 million has been spent by the Department of Defense on space-specific infrastructure in Colorado. This does not account for the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars invested annually into space-related operations and maintenance or research and development funds executed in Colorado Springs. USSPACECOM and U.S. Northern Command on Peterson Air Force Base, and the National Space Defense Center and the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center on Schriever Air Force Base, account for a half-billion dollars of the DoD\u2019s budget each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While other communities may lay claim to various space industry activities such as launch or research and development, Colorado Springs is where the space war-fighting mission takes place. Uniformed men and women, and their counterparts in the intelligence community, sit side by side 24\/7\/365, operating our space assets and responding to threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joint Task Force-Space Defense, the action arm of USSPACECOM, works out of the National Space Defense Center. This state-of-the-art facility is supported by a host of civilian contractors and DoD civilian employees working on special access programs and systems at the highest levels of classification within the defense and intelligence communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern headquarters infrastructure for a combatant command is expensive. The most recent example, USSTRATCOM\u2019s new $1.3 billion headquarters facility in Omaha, was completed last year after years of delays caused by flooding and a ballooning budget. The move to a new headquarters building alone cost $617 million. This demonstrates the money, time and work it will take to get a combatant command up and running at a new location. There will be some new construction costs if Space Command remains at Peterson Air Force Base, but not as much as starting from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\t