The rumour at the time it was established is that immediately following 9/11 he was impressed by the FAA's version with it's actions in that event, and wanted one here for the same purpose. That GR was told that's fine, but to function properly it will need to be located at one of the Centres, where operational staff are available, they can be brought in and consulted when required, rotate through the function etc. etc. (which I think is how the FAA's work).
No, he wanted it in CB. I guess he had his reasons, so that's where it went. For a while there it did seem it struggled to find itself a useful purpose.