The Department of Defense is planning for a new $150 million building at Schriever Space Force Base, but initial funding is caught up in a larger battle over Space Command. 

A budget request, first obtained by Politico, outlines plans for the new building that would house the National Space Defense Center and 648 staff that monitor threats in orbit and develop solutions in the event of an attack. The center is a clearinghouse for military and intelligence space-related information and is subordinate to U.S. Space Command headquarters. The request is separate from any spending on a permanent headquarters building for the command. 

Alabama lawmaker holds up DoD funding over Space Command

The request for the building in the document would cover early engineering, design and prototyping for IT equipment this year and it would be the first chunk of spending that would span five more years. 

The proposal was included in the DOD’s routine reallocation of funds that has been held up by the House Armed Services Committee along with numerous other requests, such as personnel funding for the Air Force and Army, new missile tracking satellites and space-to-space terminal communications.

The committee’s Chairman, Mike Rogers, R-Ala., is holding up the routine reallocation over delays in moving Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville Ala. Former President Donald Trump ordered the command’s move late in January 2021. Colorado and Alabama have been fighting over the command since.

Last week, Democratic Colorado lawmakers released a joint statement calling out Rogers for holding up the spending that has already forced the Air Force to suspend bonuses and extend deployments. 

“Congressman Mike Rogers has decided to not approve hundreds of millions of dollars for our servicemembers and our nation’s most vital defense programs. This is outrageous. This legislative hostage-taking is unconscionable and must stop,” the statement said. 

They also called for keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs. 

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Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, Diana DeGette, Brittany Pettersen, Yadira Caraveo and Jason Crow released the statement together. 

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R- Colorado Springs, said on Friday funding for IT spending for the new Schriever building is necessary for the military to remain agile. 

“This is necessary no matter the permanent location of U.S. Space Command headquarters. I look forward to a speedy resolution of the U.S. Space Command basing decision and urge my Congressional colleagues to release the hold on this funding which is unrelated to this decision and necessary for our warfighters,” Lamborn said in a statement. 

Since Colorado Springs is the center for space operations and space defense, it makes sense to invest in the National Space Defense Center first established in town during 2015, said Frank Backes, founder and chairman of the board for the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center. The Colorado Springs-based center identifies threats to commercial space infrastructure so that businesses can better protect themselves. 

“They need a permanent home for the mission they represent,” he said, of the Space Defense Center. 

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Threats to satellites and other space infrastructure have been ramping up in recent years, particularly during Russia’s war against Ukraine. For example, ahead of the invasion, Russia hacked ViaSat, interfering with commercial satellites and hurting communications across the region.

To fend off those attacks takes a significant investment, Backes said, into the billions of dollars to build resilient communications networks. 

“It is easier to find the holes and the investment is smaller in many cases than building the defense infrastructure necessary,” Backes said.