Two short months and a lifetime ago, U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs celebrated its fifth birthday after expanding from “a rag-tag band of about 100 people” when it was reestablished in 2019 to a fully operational headquarters employing 1,700 people today.

This week, the Command looks to be at risk of interrupting operations and having to uproot those 1,700 people and move them to Huntsville, Ala., because Donald Trump wants to reward his Alabama buddies, Rep. Mike Rogers and Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Trump reportedly promised Tuberville he would move Space Command in exchange for Tuberville refusing to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Tuberville was one of only eight senators who would not certify.

But Colorado is not going to let the command go without a fight.

Trump expected to move Space Command out of Colorado Springs: Alabama representative

The question is, can Colorado do it? Do our political leaders have enough clout to thwart Trump’s campaign promise to move it to Huntsville?

I’ve talked to a few city, space and military leaders, and here’s what they think is the best plan of attack.

1. Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation need to mount a united, bipartisan front to oppose such a move. The best play for Colorado Springs at this point is to delay, rather than reverse, any decision by the Trump administration on moving U.S. Space Command. There are a couple of tools to do that.

The easiest and least kinetic for Colorado’s congressional leaders is to start recruiting lawmakers from several states to call for reopening the entire basing decision for Space Command for a new round of evaluations. That’s justified, because the last basing round’s data is five years old, and many conditions have changed. Military leaders need to make the strenuous argument that any process to move it needs to be systematic and methodical, not done on a political whim. This approach is a gamble, in that another state could be rewarded the base, but local proponents are hugely confident Colorado’s impeccable qualifications would send it right back to the top of the list, with the added argument that it’s already fully operational here. Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, John Cornyn of Texas, and Joni Ernst of Iowa would be likely GOP partners in this effort.

Colorado Springs, El Paso County leaders react to possible Space Command move under Trump

2. The second, more difficult path would be for our representatives in Congress to push to continue provisions put in place by Alabama’s representatives forbidding the expenditure of funds to relocate Space Command. That’s the current law, and any effort to move Space Command would require that law to be repealed. As Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers is likely to stay at the helm of House Armed Services Committee, such an effort is tough in the House. So the Senate would need to take the lead on this, namely Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper.

The problem is, Colorado has limited sway on military matters in the Senate, especially with Republicans, so this route would require partnering with other states with more clout as well. But if Colorado was able to slow walk this move for just four years, a new president might just decide to keep it in Colorado. And don’t forget — it took four and a half years to get the Command fully operational in Colorado, and we had all the infrastructure already in place.

3. There’s another path: The apparent new co-president, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, has been put in charge of a new Department of Government Efficiency. The estimated $1.2 billion it would cost to move the base now could be a plump target for this department if they are truly serious about cutting $2 trillion in waste, as Musk has proposed.

Colorado folks would need to work their contacts to reach out to Musk, and I’d suggest starting with Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, one of Musk’s closest advisers as well as vice president of SpaceX’s Special Programs Group. Musk has already been pushing Trump to give O’Shaughnessy a role in his new government.

Why might O’Shaughnessy be inclined to help lobby Musk in Colorado’s favor? He is an AFA grad and former head of both NORAD and the Northern Command, both based in Colorado Springs. He’s also in charge of SpaceX’s Starshield program, which is a militarized version of Musk’s Starlink satellite communications cluster which can provide connectivity anywhere on earth. SpaceX was awarded the contract for Starshield by Space Force’s Space Operations Command, which is also based in Colorado Springs and works hand in glove with Space Command.

How does Musk’s connection to Space Force help Colorado keep Space Command?

Space Command is in charge of war fighting in space. Space Force is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the majority of forces for U.S. Space Command. So it makes a helluva lot of sense to keep those two together, something O’Shaughnessy knows better than anyone.

Also, the Air Force Academy is now training the “Guardians” who go into the Space Force. Musk has basically called it the new Starfleet Academy, and I’m guessing he would agree that it makes a lot of sense for Space Force and Space Command to remain in close proximity to Starfleet Academy.

O’Shaughnessy might be Colorado’s secret weapon in all of this. He clearly has Musk’s ear, and his ties to Colorado are extensive.

Colorado leaders brace for new fight over Space Command location

4. Getting anything done would require the entire state to lean in, including people like Rep. Lauren Boebert, who is a favorite of President-elect Trump. She’s been oddly silent on the relocation so far. The new congressman from Colorado Springs, Jeff Crank, who is still awaiting committee assignments, has little sway at this point. Rep. Doug Lamborn, in his final days, could have an important impact by including a provision in the 2025 Defense budget continuing the block of spending for the move of Space Command.

Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is perhaps our strongest advocate for military needs right now. But Crow, Bennet and Hickenlooper are all Democrats who have no relationship with Trump.

5. Colorado Springs also needs to hire a top lobbying team in D.C.

This situation is dire, Trump appears impossible to sway, and his new team at the Pentagon seems far more unlikely than the bunch he assembled last time, like Gen. Jim Mattis, to oppose his presidential will. Military officials will be the key to that lobbying effort. In a series of comments on LinkedIn over the past week, current and former military officials raised questions about the costs of moving the headquarters, as well as the potential effects on readiness of the command to answer threats from China, Russia and Iran. Colorado needs to mobilize those military officials to bombard the Trump administration with their concerns.

6. Split the baby. The final, most desperate approach is to start offering Alabama part of the whole Space Command/Space Force apparatus, rather than the whole thing.

Space Force, for example, is made up of three field commands. What if Colorado persuaded the Pentagon to send one of those commands to Alabama, such as Space Operations Command (SpOC) or Space Readiness and Training Command (Starcom)? One of the field commands, Space Systems Command, is already in Los Angeles anyway.

Or Colorado could lobby the Pentagon to send some of the 12 Space Deltas now headquartered in the Springs to Alabama, perhaps. Two of the 12 Deltas are already located elsewhere.

Perhaps the best idea: Trump wants to create a brand New Space National Guard. These guard units would be the reserves for Space Force, part-time soldiers who could be called up in the event of an attack or a space war. Alabama would be a fine home for a headquarters overseeing the new part-time Guardians.

Trump is a very transactional leader. The Dealmaker just might see something very satisfying in keeping his space buddy Musk happy on efficiencies by letting Space Command stay where it is at the same time he offers his buddies Rogers and Tuberville a nice ripe plum of a consolation prize in the Space National Guard.

Now that’s what I call the Art of the Deal.