U.S. Senator Katie Britt Releases Statement Applauding Space Command Headquarters Decision
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) released the following statement applauding the restoration of the U.S. Air Force’s merit-based decision to permanently base U.S. Space Command Headquarters on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Senator Britt today joined President Donald J. Trump and other members of Alabama’s congressional delegation at the White House to celebrate the announcement.
“As I have long stated, locating the permanent Space Command headquarters at Redstone Arsenal is in the best national security interest of the United States. In 2021, the Air Force made a decision to choose Redstone as the preferred basing location purely on merits, as Huntsville finished first in both the Air Force’s Evaluation Phase and Selection Phase. To the detriment of U.S. national security, President Biden chose to undermine the integrity of the process and put politics ahead of merit by yanking this military decision out of the Air Force’s hands,” said Senator Britt.
“I’m deeply grateful to President Trump and Secretary Hegseth for their commitment to keep politics out of this basing decision and allow the Air Force to proceed with doing its job. Alabama’s world-class aerospace and defense workforce, capabilities, and synergies stand ready to fulfill the mission and strengthen our national security long into the future,” the Senator concluded. “I’m proud that Alabama’s congressional delegation – working tirelessly together on a bipartisan basis – has won this fight on behalf of our great state and America’s national security interests.”
Since Senator Britt has taken office, she has joined the entire Alabama delegation in calling for honoring the U.S. Air Force’s announcement on January 13, 2021, naming Huntsville as its preferred location out of six candidate sites for U.S. Space Command HQ. In May 2022, a report issued from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found Redstone Arsenal was ranked as “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 decision matrix.”
The GAO report continued, “Air Force officials, including the then Secretary of the Air Force, stated that the decision to identify Redstone Arsenal as the preferred location stemmed from Air Force analysis showing it was the strongest candidate location.”
A separate GAO reported published in May 2025 detailed that the Air Force from May 2022 through June 2023 employed a process to reevaluate its preferred location for U.S. Space Command headquarters. At the culmination of this process in June 2023, the Air Force under the Biden Administration revalidated Redstone Arsenal as its preferred headquarters location.
Despite this, on July 31, 2023, President Biden made the politically motivated decision to block the Air Force from finalizing its decision to name Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville as U.S. Space Command’s permanent location for the headquarters. Senator Britt criticized President Biden’s “blatant prioritization of partisan political considerations at the expense of our national security, military modernization, and force readiness … ”
Along with discussing this issue directly with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a Senate Appropriations hearing, she and the Alabama House and Senate delegations met with then U.S. Space Command Commander General James H. Dickinson to emphasize the importance of keeping politics out of the decision making process.
In Fiscal Year 2024 funding for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies which was signed into law in March of 2024, Senator Britt secured language that would require the Secretary of the Air Force to provide a report within 90 days of the bill’s enactment detailing all funds that have been spent or obligated towards the construction, renovation, and improvement of facilities for Space Command Headquarters.
Earlier this year, Senators Britt and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) introduced a resolution to recognize the fourth anniversary of the Air Force’s decision.
Senator Britt this year has spoken personally with President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and Air Force Secretary Meink advocating for the restoration of the Air Force’s merit-based selection of Redstone Arsenal as the permanent basing site for Space Command HQ.
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