With the final location of U.S. Space Command still undecided after more than two years of debate, dozens of Colorado leaders renewed their plea for the headquarters to remain in the state. 

In a letter sent to President Joe Biden on Wednesday, 94 local politicians, business leaders and military personnel argued that the command should stay in its provisional home in Colorado Springs. Those who signed the letter include Gov. Jared Polis, both of the state’s U.S. senators, seven of the state’s eight U.S. congressmen, all leadership members of the state legislature, and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. 

“Colorado is the best and only home for U.S. Space Command,” the letter read. “Two years later, USSPACECOM has continued to prove its ability to ensure our national security in the space domain from Peterson Space Force Base.” 

This latest move follows years of heated discussion and debate that began in January 2021 when the Trump administration made the surprise announcement that headquarters would be moved from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama. 

Military leaders had recommended that the command remain in Colorado Springs, leading critics on both sides of the aisle to argue that the decision was more political than strategic – an outgoing president’s last-ditch effort to reward a state that supported him, and to punish a state that didn’t vote for him. Donald Trump has said the decision to move Space Command to Alabama was his alone. 

Last year, two federal watchdog investigations – from the Government Accountability Office and the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General – found Trump’s decision to be fundamentally flawed but stopped short of recommending that it be reversed. 

“The reports identified Colorado Springs as the preferred location based on the best military judgment of our nation’s most senior national security space leaders,” the letter read. “In fact, the USSPACECOM Commander expected Colorado Springs to achieve (full operational capacity) approximately four to six years sooner than other candidates.” 

The letter pointed to Colorado’s status as a hub for the aerospace industry and the existing infrastructure already in place in Colorado Springs as making the state the best option for the Space Command headquarters. A 2021 paper, drafted by retired Air Force Gen. Ed Eberhart and retired Army Lt. Gen. Ed Anderson, found that allowing Space Command to remain in Colorado Springs would save taxpayers $1.24 billion.

The letter further agued that the cost-prohibitive and time-consuming process of moving the headquarters to Alabama could leave the U.S. vulnerable to Russian aggression or allow China to narrow the gap in the space race. 

“We face an immediate and existential threat in the space domain,” the letter read. “We cannot allow a flawed and costly political decision to threaten our national security and military readiness.”

This is the latest of several attempts Colorado leaders have made fighting for the Space Command. In December 2020, more than 600 Colorado leaders sent a letter to Trump asking him to keep the headquarters in Colorado. Similar letters were later sent to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in February 2021 and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in September 2022. 

More than three months ago, Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, told Military.com that the final determination on whether command headquarters will remain in Colorado Springs would be coming shortly. 

Gazette reporter O’Dell Isaac contributed to this article.