WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said Aug. 3 he is launching an investigation into the Biden administration’s decision to keep U.S. Space Command’s headquarters in Colorado.
President Biden earlier this week overturned the Trump administration’s recommendation to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama.
Rogers said he would fight back. His first move was to send a letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and to the head of U.S. Space Command Gen. James Dickinson, demanding transcripts of interviews and other documents related to Space Command’s basing decision, and threatening to subpoena these documents if they are not provided to the HASC.
In a letter Aug. 3, Rogers claims Kendall and Dickinson have failed to respond to his committee’s repeated requests for these documents.
“Your refusal to abide by the Committee’s repeated requests for documents and transcribed interviews can only be considered obfuscation and purposeful delay, highlighted by the fact that the basing decision was decided while the Committee’s requests are outstanding,” Rogers wrote.
“It now appears you have something to hide,” Rogers said in the letter to Kendall and Dickinson.
“If you fail to adequately respond, I will be forced to seek a subpoena for the relevant documents we have requested on multiple occasions, and to seek your compelled appearance,” he added.
Rogers alleges that Trump’s selection of Huntsville as the preferred location of U.S. Space Command was done legitimately and that the Biden administration is reversing it for political reasons.
DoD said July 31 that Biden’s decision was made in consultation with the Pentagon, the Air Force and U.S. Space Command, and that keeping the command in Colorado was deemed the right thing to do in order to avoid disruptions that would undermine “readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period.”
