WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers has asked the Government Accountability Office investigate the basing process for U.S. Space Command’s permanent headquarters.
In a letter to the GAO, Rogers (R-Saks), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, requests it investigate the process that occurred between the completion of the office’s previous report in June 2022 – which recommended placing the permanent headquarters at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville – and President Biden’s selection of Colorado Springs as the permanent headquarters for USSPACECOM.
“National security decisions of this magnitude and significant economic interest require the process to be standardized, repeatable, transparent, and deliberate.” Rogers wrote. “Based on numerous administration officials talking to the press, the decision by President Biden appears to be anything but. Preferential decision-making by the President because of certain state laws has widely been publicized as a major factor but was never included in the basing requirements.”
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Rogers went on to criticize the decision and how the “basing process went awry.”
“Long-term, permanent basing decisions should stand up to scrutiny and not be politically motivated based on social policy preferences or based on advocacy by Administration officials,” he wrote. “Instead, such a process should remain analytical and focused on clearly announced criteria and requirements that can be publicly scrutinized. Anything but a transparent process played out in the final decision for USSPACECOM headquarters under this Administration.
“The public deserves an independent review to understand how this basing process went awry and failed to follow transparent and repeatable steps which would have garnered trust in the final basing decision for USSPACECOM headquarters.”
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