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The USSPACECOM Joint Operations Center (JOC) is responsible for integrating data and status from multiple operations centers, the services and agencies to provide the Commander, USSPACECOM with critical Command and Control capabilities.
Source – United States Air Force with the ID 230127-F-TD082-1002. _Public Domain
President Joe Biden has decided against relocating the headquarters of U.S. Space Command to Alabama.
The decision prompted an outcry from Republicans who accused him of acting out of political spite. Alabama lawmakers added fuel to the debate by saying that abortion politics played a role in the choice.
The accusations center around a six-month-long battle between Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville and the Defense Department over the move to provide travel for troops seeking reproductive health care, reports the New York Times.
Specifically, Mr. Tuberville is protesting a Pentagon policy that reimburses military personnel who have toSen. Tommy Tubervilleor fertility treatments. In a spiteful move, Tuberville is blocking hundreds of military promotions in protest, according to the Associated Press.
Reversing a controversial decision
The Trump administration made the decision to move the Space Command from Peterson Air Force Base, outside of Colorado Springs, to Redstone Arsenal, an Army installation in Huntsville, Ala.
Many people felt the decision was rushed through as the former president left office and appeared intended to reward a deeply conservative state by moving an influential military headquarters out of one that leans Democratic, according to the Washington Post.
The command, and its estimated 1,400 jobs, were expected to yield nearly $1 billion in annual economic spending, officials in Colorado have said previously.
But despite all this background politicking, Biden made his decision after the head of Space Command, Gen. James Dickinson, argued that moving the headquarters to Alabama from its current location in Colorado Springs would hurt military readiness, citing our competition with China in space, according to a Defense Department official who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity.
“Locating Headquarters U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs ultimately ensures peak readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period,” Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said, arguing it would “enable the command to most effectively plan, execute and integrate military space power into multi-domain global operations.”
But in a statement, Mr. Tuberville said the reversal, which benefits a Democratic-led state, “looks like blatant patronage politics, and it sets a dangerous precedent that military bases are now to be used as rewards for political supporters rather than for our security.”
Again, it seems this all comes down to politics in many peoples’ eyes. In a statement Monday, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service will work to quickly implement Biden’s decision, adding that keeping the command in Colorado will “avoid any disruption to its operational capability.”
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