The Alabama chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has accused Air Force and U.S. Space Command leadership of “deliberate, taxpayer-funded manipulation of a competitive selection process” in the fight over a permanent location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters.
Chairman of the committee, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said in a Wednesday letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Space Command commanding Gen. James Dickinson that the committee has been trying since May 25 to obtain “essential documents” related to the selection of a permanent home for the command.
“To date, you have refused to meaningfully respond to this request and have offered contradictory explanations of fundamental issues,” Rogers wrote.
Rogers represents Alabama where the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville was the top choice of an official base selection competition. That competition procedure was established years earlier by the Pentagon to decide base closings and moves and end political infighting among states over the steady jobs and tax revenue those installations generate.
The final six candidate locations in the Space Command HQ competition were Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, where the command was started and now operates; Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico; Patrick Space Force Base in Florida; Redstone Arsenal in Alabama; Joint Base San Antonio in Texas; and Offutt Air…
