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Colorado Leadership Calls on President Biden to Keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado

MARCH 8, 2023

 Governor Jared Polis and Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera sent a letter to President Biden to reaffirm Colorado’s position as the premier home for U.S. Space Command and urging him to restore integrity to the basing decision process. Vice President Kamala Harris visited Colorado yesterday.

Governor Polis, Lieutenant Governor Primavera and state legislators and leaders  write, “USSPACECOM has continued to prove its ability to ensure our national security in the space domain from Peterson Space Force Base. The threat landscape has changed considerably since January 2021, including Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and China’s global saber-rattling. These realities make the achievement of [Full Operational Capacity] as quickly as possible vital to our national security. We face an immediate and existential threat in the space domain. We cannot allow a flawed and costly political decision to threaten our national security and military readiness.”

In their letter, the leaders note that in December 2020, the Polis-Primavera administration and over 600 Colorado leaders called on President Donald Trump to keep the U.S. Space Command in Colorado. Since then the Polis-Primavera administration has continued these efforts by sending a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin in February 2021 and holding an initial meeting with Secretary Kendall in April 2022.

“Colorado is home to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), U.S. Space Force Space Operations Command (USSF SpOC), and the majority of operational USSF Deltas. It hosts multiple additional space domain entities, including the Aerospace Data Facility - Colorado and the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space ISAC) which are critical to our national security. Basing USSPACECOM in geographic proximity to these capabilities offers significant strategic and operational benefits, especially in twenty-first century conflicts,” the letter reads.

“Colorado Springs provides the existing infrastructure and the secure and redundant communications platforms necessary to successfully host this vital mission without committing restrictive additional funds. The financial cost of attempting to rebuild what Colorado has spent decades developing will require significant taxpayer dollars. In addition to the pre-existing infrastructure, since January 2021, the Department of Defense has invested further funds in Colorado Springs to develop the mission capabilities necessary to successfully operate USSPACECOM,” the leaders continued in their letter to the President.

The leaders point out that Colorado is home to the nation’s largest aerospace industry per capita which supports a collaborative network of military installations, major command centers, private aerospace companies, leading academic and research institutions, and public entities. Colorado’s aerospace economy has grown over 30% statewide in the past five years and remains 12% above the national average