GAO to Probe Decision to Keep Space Command in Colorado

The Government Accountability Office will investigate the White House’s choice not to move the headquarters for U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama as decided by the previous administration.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., called for an investigation from the GAO last week, and a spokesperson for the organization told the Washington Examiner that an investigation has begun, though investigators must first determine the scope of the probe and what methods to use before they can release a final date for their report.

Rogers claimed that the decision announced last July to keep the agency’s headquarters in Colorado, undoing a previous decision by the Trump administration to move the headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama, was made for political reasons.

“National security decisions of this magnitude and significant economic interest require the process to be standardized, repeatable, transparent, and deliberate. Based on numerous administration officials talking to the press, the decision by President Biden appears to be anything but,” Rogers said in a letter sent last Thursday to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.

“Preferential decision-making by the President because of certain state laws has widely been publicized as a major factor but was never included in the basing requirements,” he added. “Long-term, permanent basing decisions should stand up to scrutiny and not be politically motivated based on social policy preferences or based on advocacy by Administration officials.”