June 18th, 2022 by WCBC Radio

U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer and Anthony Brown (all D-Md.) released the following statement announcing the General Services Administration’s finding that the two Maryland sites proposed for the new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters remain viable options for the new consolidated campus:

 

“Today’s GSA finding that the two Maryland FBI campus sites remain viable options to meet the needs of the Bureau is another positive step towards our goal of securing a new, consolidated headquarters. For far too long, the FBI workforce has remained in a building that does not meet their security or operational needs. That’s why we will keep pushing for the new headquarters, and we are confident that the Maryland sites in Greenbelt and Landover are the best locations. We urge the GSA to work quickly, in accordance with the provisions we secured in the Omnibus law enacted in March, to select a final headquarters location this fall.”

 

Since 2004, the FBI has been working towards a new consolidated headquarters with the GSA. Such a facility would bring together the headquarters employees currently located at the Hoover Building with others in leased locations around the National Capital Region. During the Obama Administration, the GSA and the FBI identified two sites in Maryland that met the needs of the FBI for a new headquarters – Greenbelt and Landover. The Trump Administration abruptly stopped work on this process, negating nearly 14 years of planning and advocacy, and suggested that the FBI’s needs be served by tearing down the current building and building a new headquarters on the existing site. The Trump plan would have failed to provide adequate security for the FBI community and would not have met critical needs. Given these concerns, the Congressional delegation fought throughout the Trump Administration to preserve the FBI headquarters project at the three original sites, as defined by years of study and a Congressionally-approved prospectus.

 

The members of the Maryland Congressional delegation successfully included language in the FY2022 omnibus package to advance the process for constructing a new, consolidated FBI headquarters project. This language required the GSA to provide today’s update on the viability of the three sites and requires the GSA to select a site for the FBI that will meet the FBI’s needs today and into the future.