President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have made clear that they want the U.S. military focused on “speed,” “efficiency,” and “lethality.” They are rightly determined that it should cease to be steeped in politics and obsessed with mastering the poisonous theatrics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is again to be a military unified in readiness to deter and, if necessary, seek out and destroy enemies of the United States.
This is a hugely important and welcome reform of priorities after the hapless and unlamented days of President Joe Biden.
Most U.S. military and intelligence analysts believe it is likely that China will attack Taiwan before 2030. A successful Chinese conquest of Taiwan would pose a critical strategic challenge to America’s alliance and trading relationships in the Pacific. It would make China the world’s dominant power, pressuring nations from Europe and Latin America to submit to Beijing’s wishes in return for continued trade and prosperity. It would mean global security dominated by the Chinese Communist Party’s autocracy rather than America’s democratic moral order.
The U.S. military must therefore do everything it can to prepare to win that war. It must simultaneously prepare for other contingencies such as wars with Russia, North Korea, or Iran. Or a war with several foes at the same time.
Ships, aircraft, troops, and drones will all play their part but operations in space will be preeminent. This must be fully understood as Trump decides where to locate the U.S. Space Command, the unified combatant command responsible for supervising all U.S. military operations in space. It is currently where it should be, in Colorado, but when the decision last came to him, Trump ordered it moved to Alabama. Such a dislocation of a command that is already fully operational would reverse the spirit and logic of what Trump and Hegseth are doing in their other improvements at the Defense Department.
SPACECOM has achieved full operating capability in Colorado Springs. Moving it to the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama would reward Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and other Alabama politicians for political loyalty to Trump but would be devoid of merit. Injecting a political priority into the decision process would come at a heavy military and financial price. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars or more. A 2021 study by two retired general officers suggested the move might mean a bit of $1.2 billion!
The military cost, as well as the financial one, should be decisive against a move from Colorado Springs. The Defense Department’s improved efficiency and lethality won’t simply be measured by the elimination of DEI protocols and other harebrained left-wing projects. As Trump and Hegseth have rightly pointed out, there is far too much waste in the Pentagon’s warfighting apparatus. Hegseth has suggested he will prioritize greater innovation and contracting provisions for smaller, more dynamic defense contractors. But the key point is that this laser focus on lethality and efficiency must be applied across the whole force. Moving SPACECOM out of Colorado would do the opposite, increasing structural deficiencies.
The facts in favor of keeping SPACECOM are clear. Every one of the Space Force’s operational deltas is also based in Colorado. These are units that control the space-based systems upon which the U.S. military is so reliant. These are the units that defend America’s civilian space-based infrastructure against enemy attacks. These are the tip of the Space Force spear. Why increase the logistical and organizational challenges of a SPACECOM relocation when Russia is building nuclear-armed satellite constellation-killing weapons and China is building satellite constellations designed to eliminate the entirety of America’s GPS, Starlink, and military apparatus in one massive onslaught?
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SPACECOM’s Colorado location also means that the Air Force Academy is just next door. This matters for professional development opportunities and attracting young cadets to make their career in America’s newest military branch. In addition, because so much of what the U.S. military already does in space will stay in Colorado, the state has attracted defense contractors and engineering specialists who complement SPACECOM’s more effective operations. The ingredients for success are already in place.
Trump and Hegseth deserve praise for their decisive effort to refocus the U.S. military on what it is supposed to do: stand ready to fight and win the nation’s wars. They would compromise both the principle and the practical effectiveness of their reforms if they moved SPACECOM from Colorado to Alabama.
