Two federal lawmakers and intelligence committee members highlighted the important role some Colorado military installations are providing by gathering and sharing information among friends as Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine entered its ninth day.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) – chair of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence – spoke with media Friday outside Schriever Space Force Base after meeting with senior leaders from the Department of Defense and the intelligence community on the base.

While the two chose not to talk about sensitive information they learned, Bennet did say, “It is the integration of these intelligence agencies sitting side-by-side … with Space Force and Space Command that’s enabling us to have exquisite intelligence that we’re using to help our allies all over the world push back against this thug, Vladimir Putin.

“I do believe this is a global battle between totalitarianism and democracy. That’s what Putin is trying to attack.”

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Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported more than 2,000 civilians have been killed while Moscow said nearly 500 of its troops have died. Neither of the figures have been independently corroborated.

Senior leaders including Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, briefed the senators on the real-time intelligence gathered and shared at Schriever. The senators ended the day by meeting with senior leaders at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, where satellites are used to detect heat blooms from launches, giving America warning against intercontinental ballistic missile attacks.

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been met with condemnation and sanctions – and tracked by guardians.

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“We’ve seen a remarkable job done by the American intelligence community, including some of these assets here (at Schriever Space Force Base) to predict the extent of Putin’s invasion,” Warner said. “There is a lot of symmetry between what’s happening in space and what’s happening in cyber. A lot of that intel is both identified here and passed on to our defense and our allies.”

And with a major battle in Europe looking like it will only intensify, intelligence work at Colorado military installations will remain critical.

“The world as we knew it – peace in Europe for 80 years – was blown up … by Vladimir Putin. He still has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world (and) we’re in really, really dangerous times.

“I’ve been surprised that the Russians forces haven’t brought their absolute top A-team fully into the cyber engagement. I’m surprised that the internet is still up (in Ukraine).

Warner is also pleasantly surprised by the everyday Ukrainian.

“The remarkable thing is the people of Ukraine are literally voting with their lives to try to get what we all take for granted,” (democracy) Warner said. “Putin underestimated the willingness of the Ukrainians to resist.

“Putin can’t be successful. If he is successful here it will only feed his appetite for further aggression.”

“Amid Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and an increasingly congested and contested space domain, it’s more important than ever that the intelligence community and the Department of Defense work together to protect and defend against threats to our nation’s space assets,” Warner said in a provided statement. “Today’s visit further demonstrates the need to keep Space Command in Colorado, where the IC (intelligence community) and DoD are working in concert on a number of critical national security programs.”

Warner and Bennet are part of a delegation that has been working to make sure President Joe Biden understands the importance of keeping U.S. Space Command in Colorado.

With U.S. Space Command, U.S. Northern Command, Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, no place in the United States can claim more strategic importance than Colorado Springs.

Colorado has the largest contingent of bases named for the new space service. It is also home to Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Space Operations Command and the bulk of the Space Force’s 13,000 troops.

Colorado Springs is the provisional home of U.S. Space Command — which oversees all military missions in orbit — through 2026. Former President Donald Trump announced in January 2021 that U.S. Space Command would be uprooted and moved to Huntsville, Ala., after 2026. But the federal Government Accountability Office and the Pentagon’s Inspector General are reviewing the decision and Congress could reverse it.

“As Russian aggression threatens the international norms that have kept Americans safe, U.S. leadership and stability in space is more critical than ever, and I’m grateful Chairman Warner joined me today to see first-hand Colorado’s extensive space and national security assets,” Bennet said in a provided statement. “We should be spending money to build on investments that have already been made to our space mission, not on moving Space Command and starting from scratch. Our visits today, once again, reinforced that Colorado is the most strategic choice for the permanent home for USSPACECOM.”

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