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Biden Keeping Space Command Headquarters in Colorado


FILE - President Joe Biden greats a group of Thunderbird pilots after arriving at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, May 31, 2023. Biden has decided to keep U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado.
FILE - President Joe Biden greats a group of Thunderbird pilots after arriving at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, May 31, 2023. Biden has decided to keep U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado.

U.S. President Joe Biden has selected Colorado Springs as the permanent location of the U.S. Space Command headquarters, the U.S. military said Monday, ending a long-running debate over potentially moving it to Republican-stronghold Alabama.

The Pentagon said the decision by Biden, a Democrat, would ensure "peak readiness" of the command during a critical period.

Experts have said keeping the base in Colorado Springs would avoid a lengthy transition period to Huntsville, Alabama, a spot favored by former Republican President Donald Trump, and which is known as "Rocket City" for its role in developing space rockets.

"It will also enable the command to most effectively plan, execute and integrate military space power into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression and defend national interests," the Pentagon said in a statement.

Biden's decision comes as a Republican senator from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville, is blocking hundreds of U.S. military appointments to protest the Pentagon's policy of reimbursing costs for service members who travel to get an abortion.

Biden last week criticized Tuberville for preventing many women and people of color from moving into more senior roles, some of them historic in nature.

Those include Air Force General CQ Brown, the first Black person to lead any branch of the armed services, whom Biden has nominated to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Navy Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who would become the first woman to command the service and become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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