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Miami-Dade County Among Nominees For U.S. Space Force Command Headquarters

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade County wants to become home to the U.S. Space Force Command Headquarters.

Miami-Dade County Commissioners, Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the Miami-Dade Beacon Council worked together to nominate Miami-Dade County as a potential site for the headquarters of the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM).

Governor Ron DeSantis endorsed and submitted the Miami-Dade County nomination along with seven others including communities in Jacksonville, Pensacola, Brevard County, Orange County, Pinellas County, Seminole County, and a joint proposal from Tampa and Hillsborough County.

"We are proud and honored that Governor DeSantis has endorsed our submission," said Mayor Gimenez. "Our County has the highly skilled workforce, the resources, the military installation and the technological capacity to meet the stringent screening and evaluation criteria of these new headquarters for the United States Space Command."

The U.S. Space Force is the newly formed sixth branch of the U.S. military tasked with protecting satellites and other hardware already in space.

Florida is competing with other states for the command headquarters, which carries the prospect of new jobs and a boost to the state and local economies.

Criteria for communities that want to be considered as headquarters for Space Force's central command include being located within 25 miles of a military installation, ranking among the top 150 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S., and scoring a 50 or higher out of 100 on the American Association of Retired Persons Public Policy Institute's Livability Index.

Miami-Dade meets many of these criteria. It is already home to the U.S. Southern Command, Special Operations Command South, and Homestead Air Reserve Base. It is also the 7th largest MSA in the country and has a high livability index score.

Final selection is expected in early 2021.

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