FBI Headquarters Decision Pits Maryland Against Virginia

The choice to exchange the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Constructing in downtown Washington has set off a heated competitors between elected officers representing Virginia and Maryland, the 2 states vying to safe the long run web site to accommodate at the least 7,500 bureau workers and the bureau’s management, together with the financial improvement that can include it. Maryland’s two potential websites are in Greenbelt and Landover, whereas Virginia’s is in Springfield. 

Delegations from every state launched a closing spherical of lobbying, urgent officers from the Basic Companies Administration in separate, closed-door conferences in March. A choice from the GSA, which oversees federal workplace area, is predicted this month.

The showdown is the newest chapter in a tortured plan to shutter the hulking Hoover constructing overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue. The FBI has lengthy complained that the blocky, concrete behemoth, named for the company’s first and longest-serving director, is out of date and now not meets the wants of a corporation that has grown dramatically within the 47 years since President Gerald Ford devoted the constructing.

The bureau had been pushing to maneuver hundreds of workers unfold amongst leased annexes within the area right into a safe consolidated headquarters that may match with an company whose focus has developed into counterintelligence and terrorism.  About 5,500 personnel are assigned to the Hoover constructing itself.

After officers had warned that the Hoover constructing did not adjust to safety necessities, the Basic Companies Administration started exploring a relocation of the FBI constructing in 2013. The method got here to a halt in 2017, when the Trump administration scrapped the trouble to relocate the FBI headquarters, which, on the time, sat close to a Pennsylvania Avenue resort that bore former President

Donald Trump’s

title. The previous Trump Worldwide Lodge is now a Waldorf Astoria.

As soon as the FBI strikes out, the District of Columbia would have the chance to rework the location into retail, housing or different makes use of.

The GSA reopened the lobbying course of for a brand new web site in 2021, after that yr’s omnibus invoice known as for the relocation effort to start anew. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia positioned bids for brand spanking new areas, although the District’s bid was finally rejected. FBI officers had beforehand argued their headquarters ought to keep in Washington, the place they’ve fast entry to the Justice Division throughout Pennsylvania Avenue, however Maryland and Virginia lawmakers ensured that funding for a brand new campus would apply solely to the suburbs, precluding the nation’s capital. 

The FBI in a press release Monday mentioned solely that it most well-liked “a brand new headquarters answer that not solely greatest meets the wants of the FBI and our workforce, however can be one of the best use of taxpayer assets.”

The GSA says it’ll use 5 standards it developed with the FBI to decide. Weighted most, at 35%, is the proximity of every web site to each the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., which the company considers a core a part of its every day operations, and the Justice Division headquarters in Washington. Different elements embody transportation entry, improvement flexibility, racial fairness and sustainability, in addition to the challenge’s general prices.

The long-delayed push to exchange the Hoover constructing has turn out to be a battle between the congressional delegations of every state, with Maryland and Virginia officers flooding reporters’ inboxes with information releases and rebuttals to every camp’s arguments over the previous month.  

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Maryland officers, together with former Home Majority Chief

Steny Hoyer

(D., Md.) and the state’s newly elected Democratic governor,

Wes Moore,

have put their full weight into the battle, emphasizing racial fairness and what they describe as a necessity for the Biden administration to ship on guarantees to put money into traditionally underfunded communities. Each websites in Maryland are in majority-Black Prince George’s County. The Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Individuals civil-rights group is backing Maryland’s bid for the relocation. 

They are saying the challenge may be accomplished extra shortly and affordably than in Virginia, which the Virginians deny. In addition they cite advantages associated to transportation and cybersecurity, and are pushing for the GSA to weigh all the standards evenly. 

“We’re the only option,” Mr. Moore mentioned in an interview. “There’s no cause this constructing shouldn’t find yourself within the state of Maryland.” 

On the opposite aspect of the Potomac, Democratic Sens.

Mark Warner

and

Tim Kaine,

in addition to Gov.

Glenn Youngkin,

a Republican, have pushed for the Springfield location, citing its proximity to the FBI Academy, which is housed on the Quantico Marine Base in Northern Virginia, and different authorities and nationwide safety businesses within the area.

Being nearer to these businesses would assist the bureau’s capability to operate and make categorized, face-to-face conferences extra environment friendly, mentioned

Adam Lee,

who turned chief safety officer on the Richmond-based

Dominion Vitality

after 22 years within the FBI. 

“The choice as to the place to place its headquarters ought to firstly be based mostly on the place its mission will greatest be achieved, and that’s clearly Northern Virginia,” Mr. Lee mentioned.

Virginians additionally push again on claims from Maryland officers that the Springfield web site wouldn’t prioritize racial fairness, given the Springfield space’s important Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and Muslim communities. 

“We’ve made a really compelling case, so we really feel actual optimistic about it,” Mr. Kaine mentioned Thursday. 

Past Capitol Hill, the battle over the long run location has additionally turn out to be a battle between two rising stars. Messrs. Moore and Youngkin have every been floated as potential presidential candidates. 

Efforts to affect the method have been a trademark of this battle. Messrs. Hoyer, Kaine and Warner, in addition to Sens.

Ben Cardin

(D., Md.) and

Chris Van Hollen

(D., Md.), have leveraged their political capital all through the battle. 

Maryland lawmakers inserted language right into a December spending invoice that allowed for the states to present closing displays to the GSA earlier than the choice was introduced. Messrs. Cardin, Hoyer and Van Hollen additionally tried to alter the standards for selecting the brand new web site final yr, aiming for what they known as a extra holistic strategy, although this effort finally failed to achieve traction with their Virginian counterparts. 

The problem has taken on particular significance for Mr. Hoyer, who has stepped down from Democratic management however stays within the Home. Mr. Hoyer, 83 years previous, has lengthy championed efforts to convey federal buildings, together with a brand new headquarters for the Inside Income Service, to Prince George’s County. A brand new FBI constructing, the Marylanders say, would assist bolster improvement in a county typically uncared for by federal officers, regardless of its proximity to the nation’s capital. 

“If this determination is made on the deserves…little doubt Prince George’s County wins. Palms down,” he informed reporters Thursday.

Write to Eric Bazail-Eimil at eric.bazaileimil@wsj.com and Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com