The FBI announced Tuesday it would not be moving its headquarters outside of D.C., abandoning plans hatched under the Biden administration to move the bureau to the Maryland suburbs.
The bureau will leave the crumbling Hoover Building and instead occupy space at the Ronald Reagan Building — space that was recently occupied by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“This is a historic moment for the FBI,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement announcing the move.
“Through our strong partnerships with members of Congress and GSA, we are ushering FBI Headquarters into a new era and providing our agents of justice a safer place to work,” he continued, referring to the U.S. General Services Administration. “Moving to the Ronald Reagan Building is the most cost effective and resource efficient way to carry out our mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.”
The move earned swift condemnation from the Maryland delegation, noting the selection of a site in Greenbelt, Md., after an independent review.
“Not only was this decision final, the Congress appropriated funds specifically for the purpose of the new, consolidated campus to be built in Maryland,” the Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation said in a statement. “Now the Administration is attempting to redirect those funds — both undermining Congressional intent and dealing a blow to the men and women of the FBI — since we know that a headquarters located within the District would not satisfy their security needs.”
“Simply moving down the street would ignore the real threats the Bureau faces and further jeopardize the safety of those protecting our communities,” the delegation continued. “That’s why we will be fighting back against this proposal with every tool we have.”
Virginia lawmakers, however, had expressed frustration with the site selection process, asking to pause the move.
The Office of Inspector General agreed to ignite a review of the process after former FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a letter to FBI staff citing “concerns about fairness and transparency in the process” as well as the General Services Administration’s “failure to adhere to its own site selection plan.”
The FBI’s current headquarters are covered with netting to prevent any falling pieces of its facade from hitting passersby.
“FBI’s existing headquarters at the Hoover building is a great example of a government building that has accumulated years of deferred maintenance, suffering from an aging water system to concrete falling off the structure,” GSA acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian said in a release.
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