Space Command headquarters could have 200 employees working from Alabama this year, as Colorado and the Trump administration exchange barbed letters as part of a pending lawsuit.
Colorado’s lawsuit against the administration alleges the federal government is retaliating against it for its mail-in voting system and has taken numerous steps to punish the state, including moving the command, revoking Department of Energy Funds, planning to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, and denying the state federal aid following floods, among other measures.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Justice recently exchanged barbed letters ahead of an anticipated motion by the Trump administration to dismiss the lawsuit.
At the same time, Gen. Stephen Whiting recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee that work is underway on interim office space for the command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.
The command brings military service members from across the branches, such as the Navy, Space Force and Army, to ensure space capabilities are available in a conflict and U.S. assets in space are defended.
“In April, we will do our first ribbon cutting on a top-secret SCIF that will seat over 80 people and then we will start moving personnel there to begin work at that level,” Whiting said. A SCIF is a sensitive compartmented information facility built to safeguard information.
By the end of the year, he expected 200 people would be working for the command in Huntsville, up from the 20 employees there now.
Crews could start building a permanent headquarters for the command next year, he said, with an estimated completion date of 2031. It could then take a year to move staff into the building.
The command is offering relocation incentives for staff to move to Alabama and retention bonuses to encourage employees to stay until their positions are relocated, he said.
Space Command did not respond to Gazette questions about whether the positions would be moved from Colorado Springs or if some of them are new. It also did not respond to questions about the range of the bonuses offered.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs, said he is working to minimize the impact of the headquarters’ move and the community is benefiting from military expansion in other areas.
The Space Force, a military branch distinct from the Space Command, is rapidly growing, he said.
“In the last 18 months alone, Space Force jobs in the region have increased by more than 1,600 positions,” he said. “I don’t expect that growth to slow down any time soon.”
Over the summer, about 1,000 Space Command jobs are expected to move to Huntsville.
Colorado Springs also has not seen its local commercial space sector growth slow down in the wake of the move, Crank said.
The Colorado Chamber & EDC, Colorado Springs City Council and El Paso County commissioners announced in January they would formally oppose the ongoing legal fight to keep Space Command headquarters in town and focus on other military investments.
The legal battle, however, has taken on many other claims of retaliation in addition to the Trump administration moving Space Command and the legal arguments in the recent letters are focused on states’ rights.
“Colorado’s constitutional claims rest on the premise that the federal government has impermissibly discriminated against it as a State,” the DOJ said it’s letter.
The letter went on to argue that Colorado has not suffered constitutional injury that can be decided by the court and the federal government can choose to fund one activity to the exclusion of another.
Colorado hit back, saying that the Trump administration is proposing that the federal government can deprive states of their rights through coercion.
“If Defendants’ extraordinary arguments are accepted, it will change this country forever, and not for the better,” the Colorado Attorney General’s Office said.
Colorado said discovery in the case, the exchange of information and evidence ahead of a trial, should not be delayed any further, since the case has been in process for four months.
On Friday, the Trump administration asked for an extension to provide information necessary for a trial, citing the Easter holiday.