Donald Trump has announced that the US Space Command headquarters will move to Huntsville, Alabama, reversing a decision by Joe Biden to keep the facility at its temporary base in Colorado. Speaking at a White House news conference, the president said Alabama's 'Rocket City' would become the permanent home of the command, which oversees national security operations in space.
Trump claimed the move would bring more than 30,000 jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars to Alabama, a state that voted for him by a large margin. He criticised Colorado's mail-in voting system as 'corrupt', saying it played a 'big factor' in his decision. The change overturns a 2023 decision by Biden to keep the headquarters in Colorado Springs, following a recommendation from the then head of Space Command, General James Dickinson.
Huntsville already hosts the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal. The US Air Force had identified the city as its preferred site in 2021, citing cost-effectiveness, though a Government Accountability Office report later found 'significant shortfalls in transparency and credibility' in the process.
Senator Tommy Tuberville praised the reversal, accusing Biden of letting 'the nation's security take a backseat to politics' and claiming the move would save taxpayers $480m. Trump's announcement followed days of online speculation about his health, which he dismissed as 'fake news'.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Trump said he had decided to send armed troops into Chicago to fight crime, against the will of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
