FBI To Keep Headquarters In DC, Upending Move To MD

WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump administration said Tuesday it plans to keep the Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters in Washington, D.C., upending a planned move to Maryland. Virginia officials had previously sought to have the agency move to their state.

In a news release, the FBI and the U.S. General Services Administration announced the selection of the Ronald Reagan Building complex in D.C. as the new location for the agency's headquarters. The building is just blocks from the bureau’s current headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building.

The Reagan Building houses, among other tenants, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It also had been home to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which on Monday marked its last day as an independent agency.

Officials said the new location will provide the FBI with a "world-class facility" while also saving taxpayers money.

“This is a historic moment for the FBI,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. "Through our strong partnerships with members of Congress and GSA, we are ushering (the) FBI Headquarters into a new era and providing our agents of justice a safer place to work."

The announcement follows nearly two decades of attempts to find a new space for the FBI and is a turnabout from plans announced during the Biden administration to move the bureau to a site in Prince George's County. The plan was to build on a 61-acre site near the Greenbelt Metro station as part of a mixed-use development.

The Maryland location was selected over nearby Virginia following a sharp competition between the two states. Congress had previously appropriated funds to complete the move to Greenbelt.

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The FBI's current headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue was dedicated in 1975. Proponents of moving the headquarters have said the Brutalist-style building, where nets surround the facility to protect pedestrians from falling debris, has fallen into disrepair.

“This move not only provides a world-class location for the FBI’s public servants, but it also saves Americans billions of dollars on new construction and avoids more than $300 million in deferred maintenance costs at the J. Edgar Hoover facility,” GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear when such a move might occur or what logistical hurdles needed to be cleared to accomplish it.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump said he planned to halt the FBI's move to "liberal" Maryland.

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said of the move to Greenbelt during a speech at the U.S. Department of Justice in March, according to a Baltimore Banner report. “We’re going to build another big FBI building right where it is, which would have been the right place, because the FBI and the DOJ have to be near each other.”

Maryland's Democratic leaders were quick to condemn the move in a joint statement released by U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

"Let me be clear: I will oppose the use of any funds to move the FBI HQ to a location other than the Greenbelt site, which was selected after exhaustive review because, unlike the Reagan Building, it is a secure location that meets the FBI's mission requirements," Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen's statement was also signed by U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks; U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer, Glenn Ivey, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, Sarah Elfreth, Johnny Olszewski Jr.; Gov. Wes Moore and Prince George’s County Executive Aisha N. Braveboy. All are Democrats.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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