Will Pete Hegseth be good for Colorado? 

The newly minted secretary of defense, who won U.S. Senate confirmation via a tie-breaking vote from Vice President J.D. Vance, has promised to lead a Pentagon refocused on its core mission: lethally defending America’s national security interests. This means a rejection of Biden-era woke silliness and its overarching, excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

This is a good thing for Colorado.

All Americans win when the nation is strong and when we are governed by leaders who understand the power of deterring attacks against our forces and those of our allies — and leave social experimentation to less critical parts of American society.  

But rebuilding and reorienting the nation’s war-fighting capabilities could be a boost for Colorado’s defense economy as well.  

According to federal statistics, there are 60,000 Department of Defense personnel in Colorado including active duty, National Guard and civilians. Defense spending amounts to nearly $13 billion annually, which is 2.7% of the gross state product.

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Much, but not all, of the state’s defense economy is centered in El Paso County and points south where it is a daily focus for local policymakers and business advocates.

According to the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, defense represents 40% of the Colorado Springs economy with 200 companies and 110,000 workers focused on one aspect or another of the tools America uses to protect our nation — and a good chunk of the world. That’s an annual economic impact of more than $10.2 billion in 2022.

Colorado’s defense economy may be the one area where — so far — leftists in the state legislature have not targeted for extinction or strangulation in regulatory red tape. In fact, it’s a source of significant bipartisan cooperation, since it’s very bad politics to mess with the livelihoods of men and women in uniform. 

The future could be promising.

Secretary Hegseth, in his first message to the millions of Americans who work for the Pentagon, including the troops, said as he focuses the military on its central mission of war fighting, he also wants to rebuild our military. This represents a renewed commitment to peace through strength — and a pivot away from the hapless Biden period of war through weakness. 

Here’s one example of how the arrival of President Donald Trump and Secretary Hegseth in Washington could end up being good news for Colorado’s economy and local communities that rely on defense and aerospace activity. 

It’s essential our air dominance over the U.S. is rock solid. It’s a vital priority to recapture control of the skies over America, after four years where, for example, a Chinese spy balloon was allowed to cruise over the continental land mass of the United States and a series of still-unexplained drones appeared to target key east coast military installations and other targets. 

Air dominance is one of many key missions for the Colorado Air National Guard. For many years, leaders in Colorado have advocated it’s time to move on from the the Guard’s existing (and aging) F-16 fighters to next-generation fighters, such as the F-35. In addition to the national security imperative, upgrading and modernizing the fleet helps secure the future for the runways at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, which injects more than $1 billion into the local economy.

So far, F-35s have found homes in many states, except Colorado. Maybe that will change over the next four years. 

The scenarios are not all rosy, however. Some of the sharpest advocates in our state, along with a united bipartisan congressional delegation are fighting a looming decision to uproot the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado and ship it to Alabama. The decision, which has massive economic consequences for southern Colorado, is tied to raw politics, not sound defense policy.

On the flip side, Colorado is also facing a significant challenge where President Trump and Secretary Hegseth could soon make an unforced error rooted in political pique rather than sound defense and economic policy. And this, again, shows how defense decisions are a big rock tossed in the pond here in Colorado. 

Here’s the bottom line: if Pete Hegseth makes the right decisions for America’s security and a strong national defense, Colorado stands to be one of the big winners. 

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens and longtime communications and media relations strategist, is senior vice president, communications at the Daniels Fund in Denver.