After prodding from a House Republican in Colorado, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has opened a review into the Trump administration move of the U.S. Space Command Headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Alabama.
"I am very pleased that the Government Accountability Office is conducting an investigation of the methodology behind the headquarters selection process for U.S. Space Command," Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., wrote in a statement Friday.
Lamborn is the ranking member of the House Readiness Committee of the Armed Services.
Former President Donald Trump had originally placed the latest branch of the military provisionally near Colorado Springs because it is the home of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Colorado lawmakers objected to the Jan. 13 move to Huntsville, Alabama. The move was announced by the Air Force.
"I believe the process the Department of the Air Force used was fundamentally flawed," wrote Lamborn, who sent a letter Feb. 1 to the GAO asking for an official review. "It is crucial we thoroughly review their entire process to ensure that the decision was both sound and rooted in our national security interests."
Alabama tends to be a reliably red state in national politics, while Colorado had turned blue since former President Barack Obama's first term.
The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan legislative branch agency that audits, evaluates, and investigates for the U.S. Congress.
"This kind of review is precisely what GAO excels at, and I am confident they will investigate in a transparent, nonpartisan, and unbiased manner," Lamborn's statement continued. "I will continue working to ensure that USSPACECOM is headquartered at a location which strengthens and does not disrupt our national security space enterprise."
Trump started the military's 11th command officially in December 2019, breaking out Space Force from the Air Force Space Command headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Biden administration Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was pressed in February by Colorado lawmakers to conduct a review of the Space Force command headquarters decision.
"Without a review, this hasty decision will undermine our country's ability to respond to national security threats in space," Colorado lawmakers wrote to the defense secretary.
"We have concerns about the transparency, impartiality, and bias of the process that the previous administration used when coming to a final decision that should be addressed prior to any final decision on permanent basing."
The Pentagon inspector general has also opened up a review last month, The Associated Press reported.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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