Colorado Springs lobbying for AF Cyber Command to move there

Published 30 October 2007

Colorado, California, Nebraska, and Louisiana compete for being home to the Air Force’s new Cyber Command

There is a fierce competition underway among five finalists for DHS’s $450 million new national biolab, and now there is another competition — for hosting the Air Force’s new Cyber Command. The reasons for the two competitions are the same — the potential of employing thousands of highly paid scientists and engineers, biologists in the first case, computer specialists and contractors in the second case. The unit is temporarily housed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. It was created for the purpose of protecting the United States from computer attacks and planning how to hack into enemy networks.

Colorado Springs is lobbying hard to become the base for the new command, and the city has enlisted Colorado’s congressional delegation to push for the idea. They have competition: Delegations from Nebraska and California said they want the command in their states, while Louisiana lawmakers said they hope to make the interim headquarters at Barksdale permanent. An Air Force spokesman said a decision should be made by the end of the year.