The historic FBI headquarters building in Washington will be permanently decommissioned, and employees will be relocated to a facility that previously housed the disbanded United States Agency for International Development. This was stated by FBI Director Kash Patel, as reported by UNN with reference to Bloomberg.
After more than 20 years of unsuccessful attempts, we have finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI headquarters in the Hoover Building and relocate employees to a secure, modern facility.
According to him, this will save taxpayers' money and better meet the needs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It is noted that the FBI building, built in 1975 in the brutalist style, is considered dilapidated and too cramped for the bureau's staff. However, the struggle over whether and where to move the headquarters has dragged on for years.
Assuming the relocation promised by Patel takes place, it would keep the agency's top personnel close to the Department of Justice, the White House, and other federal agencies.
At the same time, a new headquarters was previously planned to be built in Maryland after a long search, which resulted in Congress providing funding for construction in the suburb of Greenbelt, outside Washington.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore and state officials filed a lawsuit last month to prevent the cancellation of this plan.
As Bloomberg writes, the Maryland site was chosen because it had "the lowest cost to taxpayers, provided the best transportation access for FBI employees and visitors, and gave the government the greatest confidence in the project's implementation schedule."
For reference
The old FBI office is located in Washington. The building is named after former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
The 260,209 sq. m building has three underground floors, as well as an underground garage, a special, secure elevator system and corridors. The height of the building is 49 meters. Among the facilities located inside the old FBI office are, in particular, its own car service station, gyms, a first-aid post, a morgue, a printing house, etc.