0% found this document useful (0 votes)
Tuberville Letter On Space Command
Download as pdf
Download as pdf
Download as pdf
/ 4
‘TOMMY TUBERVILLE comes
NABAMA AnweD Services
‘Me RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BULOING Acricucrune, NuraioN,
'WASHINGTON, OG 25100107 ‘AND FonestRY
aaa United States Senate Hercrs Eoycamon,
Las 07, AND PENSIONS
VerEnans’ Arras
May 18, 2022
‘The Honorable Jack Reed
Chairman, Senate Gommittee on the Armed Services
Senate Russell Office Building Rm. 228
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable James Inhofe
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Armed Services
Senate Russell Office Building Rm. 228
Washington, D.C. 20510
Chairman Reed and Ranking Member Inhofe:
Icis time for the Senate to fully support the Air Force’s basing decision for U.S. Space Command
(SPACECOM). The 11" Unified Combatant Command was established on August 29, 2019, with the
vital mission to secure the high ground of space. After 15 months of delay, Congress just received reports
from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD.
1G). Both reports confirmed that the Air Force basing process was thorough, legal, and comprehensive;
both confirmed Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama ranked highest at every stage of the process.
‘To date, I and others from Alabama have largely declined to engage in a public back and forth on
this issue because doing so would not have been helpful to national security. Instead, we have sought to
allow the facts and the integrity of the process to speak for themselves. Given the recent DoD IG and.
GAO findings, as well as the grave threats we face from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, we must
move forward.
For the sake of national security and military readiness, I will strongly oppose further efforts to
unnecessarily delay this critical move.
‘The following is a summary of developments over the last 24 months relating to the Air Force’s
decision to base SPAGECOM headquarters at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, As you will see,
the process has been robust and objective, the investigations extensive, and the conclusion the same
throughout: Redstone Arsenal is the best place for SPACECOM.
Force Used an
In 2019, the Air Force identified six suitable locations’ including Redstone—for SPACECOM
headquarters, which when fully established will house approximately 1,400 military and civilian
personnel. That decision was protested, and in response, the Secretary of Defense testified before the
Senate Armed Services Committee in March 2020 that he would instruct the Air Force to examine the
selection process and allow communities to self-nominate to host the permanent headquarters.
Subsequently, the Air Force considered 66 communities from across 26 states. At the time, lawmakers from all comers praised the revised process for its openness and fairness,
with remarks such as “The Secretary and the Chief have been excellent partners throughout the process,
and are working to ensure that no one can challenge their final decision.”
An exhaustive selection methodology followed—one that weighed 21 different factors and.
involved site visits, interviews, and input up and down the chain of command. This objective evaluation
lasted more than eight months.”
In the end, the Air Force determined that Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville was its preferred
location for SPACECOM headquarters. In its January 13, 2021 news release announcing that finding, the
‘Air Force stated that it had “conducted ... visits to assess which of six .. locations would be best suited to
host the U.S. Space Command Headquarters based on factors related to mission, infrastructure capacity,
community support, and costs to the Department of Defense. Huntsville compared favorably across more
of these factors than any other community...” In fact, Huntsville ranked in the top- or middle-third of
the criteria over 85 percent of the time
‘The Air Force followed a process that concluded that SPACECOM headquarters at Redstone
best served the national security interest of the country. Rather than embrace this decision, politicians
representing military installations which were not selected raised unsubstantiated claims that the selection
‘was a politically-motivated decision by the previous administration.
den administration officials pushed back on assertions that the prior administration’s selection
of Redstone was politically motivated. For example:
© On February 22, 2021, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement that
“Secretary Austin has communicated to Air Force leaders that he supports their
decision-making process about the preferred location of Space Command,
headquarters.”
© OnJune 16, 2021, John Roth, President Biden’s Acting Secretary of the Air Force at the
time, said that “[tJhe selection of Huntsville as the preferred location by my predecessor was
the result of our strategic basing process, and that process is an analytically based process.”
Independent Reviews Support Air Force’s Selection Process and Conclusion
Unfortunately, at a time when Congress should have been providing robust support to the Air
Force’s efforts to grow our critical space capabilites, politicians once fulsome with praise of the process
suddenly enlisted GAO* and the DoD IG to castigate the Air Force’s selection as “fundamentally flawed,”
howling that the selection must be based* upon “sound methodology and good, objective data.”
Sound methodology and objective data are exactly what the DoD IG found. On May 11, 2022—
almost 16 months after the Air Force made its initial decision—the DoD IG released its highly anticipated
report, concluding that:
We found that the process Air Force officials used to select Huntsville, Alabama,
as the preferred permanent location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters
(USSPACEGOM HQ) complied with law and policy, and was reasonable in
identifying Huntsville as the preferred permanent location’, . . Basing Office
personnel developed relevant and objective criteria to assess candidate locations in the Self Nomination Phase, score candidate locations in the Evaluation Phase, and
rank the six candidate locations in the Selection Phase. ‘The 4 evaluation factors
and 21 associated criteria, which the SECDEF approved, were a reasonable and
objective means of assessing, scoring, and ranking the candidate locations for
hosting the USSPACECOM HQ.
‘On May 13, 2022, GAO provided Senate staff with a briefing on its report. GAO confirmed that
uring the Air Force’s comprehensive process, “Redstone Arsenal was the highest-scoring location in
the Evaluation Phase, the highest-ranked location in the Selection Phase, and the location with the most
advantages in the final decision matrix. That is why the U.S. Secretary of the Air Force ultimately selected
Redstone as the preferred location for SPACECOM HQ.” GAO was critical of eleventh-hour attempts to
¢levate a much lower-ranked installation into the number two position, ‘That artificial action gave the
appearance of bias.
Both the DoD IG and GAO reports are now available for you and your staff to review in full,
Readiness Impact,
Some have claimed that a move to Redstone would negatively impact readiness at SPACECOM,
‘This notion is unsupported by facts and has been refuted.
In response to a March 8, 2022 question from Senator Sheheen, SPACECOM Commander
General James Dickinson testified before our committee that “we are in the process right now of building
the infrastructure that we need to do the mission that I have been given .. . and we are moving in that
direction, I would say we are a couple {to] three years away from full operational capability. ..no mater
tohere we are located.”* In short, there is no evidence that a transition of the headquarters would have a
significant impact on readiness.”
‘ime to Move Forward
In the words of General Dickinson, “I need a decision.” He, in fact, now has a decision that (1)
resulted from a fair and objective process, (2) has been affirmed by senior officials in both parties, and (3)
has withstood the scrutiny of two extensive government reviews.
At this point, the biggest thing standing in the way of SPACECOM is political inertia and sore
loser syndrome, each a detriment to U.S, military effectiveness. I's time we embrace the Air Force’s
decision and move forward together.
==
of a AY
Tuberville
Usted ‘States Senator CC: Members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services
‘The Honorable Richard Shelby, United States Senator
‘The Honorable Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense
‘The Honorable Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force
"The locations were Buckley AFB, Aurora, Colorado; Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colorado Springs, Colorado;
Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama; Schriever AFB, Colorado Springs,
‘Colorado; and Vandenberg AFB, Lompoc, California.
8 USS. Dept. of Defense, DODIG-2022-096, Offic ofthe Inspector General, Eeataton ofthe Air Farce Selon Process forthe Permanent
Location ofthe U.S. Space Command Fleadguarters (2022) at page 43, hips://matia defense goo /2022/May/10/2002994298/-1/-
T/A /DODIG:2022-096 PDF.
Wid a9,
* GAO announces investigation into U.S. Space Command Basing Decision, Congressman Doug Lamborn. (2021, March 18).
Inups/lamborn.house gov /media/press-rleases/gao-announces-investigation-us-pace-command:-basing-decsion
* US. Department of Defense, sypra note i, a9.
Secretary ofthe Air Force Public Affurs 2021, January 18), SECAF selects Huntsville, Alabama, as preferred location to host
USSPACECOM. United States Space Foree. hps://www spaceforce.mil/News/Artcle/247 15 14/seea selects-hunsvill-
slabama-ae-preferred-location-to-hor-usspacecom/
US. Dept of Defense, supra note ii at 18-21.
+ Pentagon Press secretary John F. Kirby holds a pres briefing. U.S. Department of Defense. (2022, April).
bhups://wwrw.defense.gov/ News/ Transcrpts/Transcript/Article/2988886/pentagon-press-scretary-jon-F-hitby-holds-a-press-
briefing/
‘Erwin, S. 2021, June 16). Air Force defends choice of Alabama's Redstone Arsenal to host U.S. Space Command, SpaceNews
butpe/ /spacenew.com/arforce-defende-choice-ofalabamas-redstone-arsenal-to-hostu-t-space-comman/
* Colorado Springs announced as the provisional home of US. Space Command, Congressman Doug Lamborn, (2020, May 15)
hhups://lamborn.house gov/medi/pres-eleass/colorado-springs-announced-provsional-home-us-space-command
® Rep. Lamborn cals on Government Accountability Ofice to Review Basing Decision for U.S, space command. Congressman
Doug Lamborn. (2021, February 2) htts:/ ambos house-gov/media/pressreleases/rep-lambor-
