A Trump administration decision to uproot U.S. Space Command and move it to Alabama lacked credibility and transparency, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report released Thursday.

The GAO findings confirm what congressional insiders who’d gotten an early look at the report told The Gazette in April – as well as exclusive reporting by the newspaper last year – about the fundamentally flawed process behind the surprise announcement, on Jan. 13, 2021, awarding the permanent headquarters of Space Command to Huntsville, Ala., rather than its longtime provisional home of Peterson Space Force Base, in Colorado Springs.

The report found “significant shortfalls” in the “transparency and credibility” of the process leading up to that decision, which former-President Donald Trump later boasted had been made by him “alone.”

“We reviewed the Air Force’s process for identifying the preferred location for U.S. Space Command headquarters … (and) assessed the process against 21 ‘Analysis of Alternatives’ best practices, which can help increase transparency and avoid the presence or appearance of bias,” according to a summary of the report from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

Senators Bennet, Hickenlooper urge Air Force secretary to review findings of decision to move U.S. Space Command

Those “best practices” of a “high-quality analysis” were organized into four groups based on characteristics: Was the analysis comprehensive, well-documented, unbiased, and credible?

The Huntsville decision received an overall failing grade.

“We found that the Air Force’s process did not substantially meet 3 of these 4 characteristics – leading to significant shortfalls in its transparency and credibility,” said the GAO, which went on to recommend “establishing guidance that incorporates our best practices.”

Colorado lawmakers and leaders immediately responded, calling for a new basing evaluation – or an about-face from the nation’s highest office, if they can get it.

Because that’s what it will take.

“The GAO report today confirmed what we have stated throughout – that the process that recommended moving Space Command out of Colorado Springs was vastly flawed,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said in an email to The Gazette. “Citing ‘shortfalls in transparency and credibility,’ the report specifically gave low scores in three of the four assessment categories covering documentation, credibility, and bias. It’s difficult to imagine a more condemnatory characterization of the process.”

The investigation is one of two federal probes in recent weeks to document serious deficiencies in the process that resulted in the command’s planned move to Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal.

A report from the Department of Defense’s inspector general, released last month, focused more on the timeline that led up to the basing decision. While that review found the Huntsville decision was justified based on the criteria defined by the Air Force, it also found the White House dismissed recommendations from top Pentagon brass, who argued that leaving Space Command at Peterson Space Force Base would allow it to more quickly reach full operational capability to defend the military’s constellation of satellites, while saving taxpayer cash.

“Over the past year, we’ve repeatedly raised concerns that the previous administration used a flawed, untested, and inconsistent process to select a location for U.S. Space Command. The reports from the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense Inspector General both confirm that the basing process lacked integrity and neglected key national security considerations,” read a Thursday morning statement from Colorado lawmakers Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs, Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. John Hickenlooper and Rep. Jason Crow. “We now know that in a White House meeting in January 2021, senior military leadership recommended Colorado Springs as the preferred location for Space Command due to the unique ability of Peterson Space Force Base to reach Full Operational Capability significantly faster than any other potential location, and at a significantly lower cost. However, following this meeting a different location was announced as the selection, and justified with inconsistent documentation and unclear reasoning.”

Members of the Colorado delegation urged the Biden administration to reconsider keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs.

“With the investigations now complete, the shortcomings of the Space Command basing process are fully available to the Biden Administration. We urge them to review the reports’ findings, and make a decision in consultation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff that prioritizes our national security and mission in space,” they said. “The American people must be able to trust that this decision is objective and provides for our national security and leadership in space. Peterson remains the only and best home for U.S. Space Command.”

While documenting missteps, the reports from the Office of Inspector General and the GAO didn’t outright call for reversal of the Alabama move.

Fight to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs finds traction in new report

But the conclusions from each add ammunition for a congressional fight over where the command should be housed, and increase pressure on the Biden administration to reconsider the decision.

“I think it’s very clear the Biden administration has all the information it needs to reverse this decision,” Suthers said, during a press conference downtown Thursday afternoon.

He said the conclusion of the GAO report was what he expected, and it was more revealing than the report released by the Department of Defense’s inspector general.

“The Government Accountability Office report that came out today has a different emphasis” than the DoD inspector general report, Suthers said. “This was much more a critique of the Air Force process” recommending moving Space Command from Colorado Springs “than it was a determination of whether they followed their own process.”

“The two reports together certainly give all the ammunition that’s needed for a decision to step away from a decision that was made by the Trump administration basically a week before he left office – a decision which, by the way, he has consistently taken single-handed credit for in his visits to Alabama,” Suthers said.

Suthers said most importantly no money has been spent yet to support Space Command’s move to Huntsville.

“There’s two aspects to this,” he said. “The executive branch makes the decision. The legislative branch funds the decision. As of this point in time … no money has been expended in support of move to Huntsville, and I think that’s important to note. It’s not like we’ve flushed any money into that process. From a cost-saving perspective, leaving (Space Command in Colorado Springs) is clearly the right path.”

Speaking with the Gazette Thursday afternoon, Rep. Doug Lamborn said the GAO and OIG reports together make a solid case for the bi-partisan coalition pushing for a “redo.”

“They seemed to move the goal post during the process, as to how important they considered certain factors to be,” said the Colorado Springs Republican, the top GOP representative on a House subcommittee that oversees military space operations. “This gave some more ammunition to our side. The Huntsville people can cherry pick and find things that would favor their preferred outcome, but I would contend that those are more minor issues.”

While some of the criteria that landed Huntsville on top have merit, those factors are not considered in context, or in a properly-weighted system, Lamborn said.

“Some of it is structural. It’s a lower cost of housing and construction than in Colorado. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to uncover that,” said Lamborn, who requested the GAO report last year. “But the most critical factors to me point to Colorado Springs. At the top of that list is Full Operational Capability. We reach that faster in Colorado Springs than anywhere else, including Huntsville.”

“And given how serious the threats are, we can’t afford to spin our wheels for two or three years waiting,” he said. “The IG report concluded that basically under these criteria they did an adequate job … despite going against top military advice … but the GAO asked the question, ‘What if the criteria were flawed?'”

What’s clear now is that it was, he said.

“We think we need to redo the whole process, or at least convince the Biden administration to make an independent decision to reverse the decision,” he said. “Those who have influence with the Biden administration, those on the other side of the aisle, need to urge them to overturn the decision.”

Lamborn said he’s also working to try to “intervene legislatively,” and hopes there may be an opportunity for that at an upcoming National Defense Authorization Act budget meeting on Capitol Hill.

“Potentially we might have an opening to offer language that would cause us to revisit the decision,” he said. “It’s important that we have (bipartisan) legislative support in both the House and Senate to get that over the finish line. We don’t want to do it if it’s not going to be a success.”

Gazette reporter Breeanna Jent contributed to this story.

Colorado lawmakers now have two federal reviews confirming “fundamental flaws” in the process that led to the awarding of U.S. Space Command to Alabama, and that the decision defied the recommendation of top military brass, who preferred the headquarters remain in Colorado Springs.

They hope the findings, by the Government Accountability Office and the federal Office of Inspector General, fuel an appeal that reaches nation’s highest office, where the search for a permanent home for Space Command could be restarted as easily as it was ended in January 2021.

“I think it’s very clear the Biden administration has all the information it needs to reverse this decision,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said.

Meanwhile, Colorado Springs Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, the top GOP representative on a House subcommittee that oversees military space operations, said there may be a chance to “intervene legislatively” when lawmakers gather on Capitol Hill in late June for a budget meeting of the National Defense Authorization Act.

“Potentially we might have an opening to offer language that would cause us to revisit the decision,” he said.