After years of back-and-forth and hypothesis about the place the brand new FBI headquarters can be situated, the Normal Companies Administration has confirmed a website in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been chosen.
After years of back-and-forth and hypothesis about the place the brand new FBI headquarters can be situated, the Normal Companies Administration has confirmed {that a} website in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been chosen.
Maryland and Virginia each lobbied exhausting for the prospect to be the brand new headquarters, and the choice of Greenbelt shortly sparked a collection of offended reactions from Virginia officers.
The Washington Submit first reported the information.
A Normal Companies Administration spokesperson stated in a press release that “GSA decided Greenbelt to be one of the best website as a result of it was the bottom value to taxpayers, offered the best transportation entry to FBI staff and guests, and gave the federal government probably the most certainty on mission supply schedule. It additionally offered the best potential to advance sustainability and fairness.”
“GSA seems ahead to constructing the FBI a state-of-the-art headquarters campus in Greenbelt to advance their important mission for years to return,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan stated in a press release, calling the choice an “necessary milestone” following a multiyear effort.
Frustration from Virginia officers
Virginia officers expressed disappointment over the Maryland selection.
“We’re deeply upset that regardless of the clear case that Virginia is one of the best dwelling for the FBI, the Administration went a unique route,” Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine stated in a joint assertion Wednesday night time.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, whose district contains one of many potential websites in Fairfax County, echoed the Virginia senators’ criticism, saying that the GSA has “shamelessly caved to political strain,” resulting in the Eleventh-hour change by the company of the standards for website choice.
“We spent years appropriately criticizing the final Administration for politicizing the brand new FBI headquarters — just for a brand new Administration to return in and permit politics to taint the choice course of,” Warner and Kaine stated.
In 2022, GSA indicated it had narrowed down its search to a few potential websites — Greenbelt and Landover in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and Springfield in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Later, the GSA, which acts because the federal authorities’s landlord, launched a contentious scoring system that will be used to assist make the ultimate choice. The scoring system drew rowdy debate from lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland with accusations of an unfair course of and political interference.
Officers in Virginia touted Springfield for its proximity to the FBI Academy in Quantico.
Candy victory for Maryland officers
Maryland leaders stated the places in Landover and Greenbelt “might present a much bigger financial and employment affect than it might in Virginia” and would help the Biden-Harris administration’s “dedication to fairness.”
In the meantime, Maryland leaders, together with senators, representatives, Gov. Wes Moore and Prince George’s County Govt Angela Alsobrooks referred to as the announcement a “historic second.”
“After a radical deliberation course of and consideration of stakeholder enter, the GSA chosen the Greenbelt website as the placement for the brand new FBI headquarters,” the Maryland leaders stated in a joint assertion. “The GSA’s evaluation of the information and its consultations revealed that the Greenbelt website is probably the most becoming website of the three ultimate candidates when all elements had been thought-about collectively.”
The bureau has been in its location on Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. since 1975, however speak about transferring headquarters has been ongoing for no less than a decade.
The transfer was largely placed on maintain through the administration of President Donald Trump, when FBI officers in 2019 really useful preserving the headquarters in D.C. throughout the road from the Justice Division.
When President Joe Biden took workplace, transferring the FBI headquarters once more picked up momentum.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.