Posted on 08/01/2014 7:49:47 AM PDT by re_tail20
The Federal Bureau of Investigation would move its headquarters from a storied, decades-old home in the nation's capital to a new location in the suburbs under a federal government proposal released Tuesday.
The General Services Administration, which oversees federal office space, named two sites in suburban Maryland and one in northern Virginia as the three finalists for the new FBI headquarters.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building, a hulking Brutalist structure, began housing FBI workers in 1974 on prime Pennsylvania Avenue real estate between the Capitol and the White House. The building, which occupies a downtown city block across the street from the Justice Department, is known by many Americans for its appearances in news broadcasts and movies. Millions have visited for tours, which are now discontinued.
But the FBI has long complained that the building—named for the agency's first and longest-serving director—is obsolete, inefficient and no longer meets the needs of an organization that has grown dramatically in the last 40 years. Those findings were confirmed by a 2011 Government Accountability Office report that agreed the building didn't meet the agency's long-term security needs. The FBI has been pushing to move thousands of employees spread among leased annexes in the region into a secure consolidated headquarters that would fit with an agency whose focus has evolved to intelligence and counterterrorism...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
At least this would end the controversy over the current FBI building being named after J. Edgar Hoover...unless they name the new one after him as well.
This Greenbelt area of Maryland being considered....is marginally safe after dark. For the life of me....I can’t understand how it got on the list. It is near a Metro station, but you’d have to have a weapon in your car if you drove to work each day.
As for the Landover, Maryland area and Franconia, Virginia sites....they both are interesting areas. Franconia is at the end of the beltway on the side south of Arlington. Almost no Metro station nearby....but they could run a Metro bus up to the site.
Landover is on the list? Is Landover any safer than Greenbelt? Remember what happened to Landover Mall???
Put it and congress in Omaha Neb.
Why not erect a new building on the premises of the FLETC training grounds?
or, Heavens forbid,
erect a building on the CIA ‘farm’?
If ya wanna do research. Try this.
Jack Evans wants to swap the FBI for the Redskins
As I said before, Mr. Snyder is playing this for his advantage:
I was thinking along the same lines— except an Island in the Mississippi River near Keokuk, Iowa. That’s only because I like Nebraskans.
Having been to both Landover and Greenbelt (I didn’t know where the heck I was in both cases)....I’d say was Landover was marginally safer (maybe in daylight hours).
It’s like discussing Rockville, MA....it’s completely safe in daylight hours. But it’s best you don’t travel METRO at any time around Rockville.
Anacosta (the DC ‘burb’ east of the White House area)....is pretty unsafe day or night...and cops just drive through as quickly as possible...not stopping or reacting to anything.
You can pretty much draw a circle around the White House....anything within twenty-five miles in Maryland or DC....is pretty unsafe. As for Virginia? Totally opposite stance. You are safe in Fairfax and Arlington twenty-four hours a day. I’d skip Alexandria after midnight.
No mention of cost. Bet they try to make it cost over a billion dollars.
How about Congress authorizing the building of a new FBI headquarters in western Kansas to put it in a more central location? Goodland, Kansas would be a great location. It would also separate the FBI from the politicians in the DOJ and in the White House.
Wherever they move, I hope they open a Visitor Center as well where they can have all the neat things that they had on their old building tours, such as a display all their exhibits as a range for firearms demonstrations.
I agree.
Our government is busting at the seams. I’m sure the new building will cost several billion dollars.
Landover, Greenbelt, and Franconia??? The folks on the site selection committee sure have a high tolerance for traffic gridlock and a systematic contempt for their employees’ quality of life.
I wonder if there is enough space left at the old St. E’s site. Homeland Security is in the process of moving there, so organizationally it would be a good fit for collocation. The St. E’s site is convenient, close in, and at least for a few more years will offer nearby affordable housing in a part of town where one could do extensive remodelling or new construction without being blocked by historic preservation rules. Gentrification is spreading even in Anacostia and the move by DHS will accelerate it in the vicinity of the campus. The first generation of DHS employees who move into the area will be real estate millionaires in 20 years.
Or, the FBI can settle for life in gridlock and commutes that are brutal on the good days and impossible on the rest.
Go with the Oriana Fallaci proposal :
Rebuild the Twin Towers, place the FBI at the top of one tower, and the CIA at the top of the other tower.
That will make sure they are serious about stopping terrorism...
How about Mosul.
In the very beginning of this project, the FBI had Fairfax on the list. Way out of the beltway....but the new Grayline was going to be a part of Metro out there....so it made sense. Then, Maryland pressure got tossed on this, and I think now....it will have to be put into Maryland, period....to make them happy. If in Greenbelt....I think they would have to have a minimum of dozen cops walking the perimeter of the parking lot....twenty-four hours a day. And I’d be fearful of being called out to the site after dark....wondering what I might encounter just to get into work.
Landover and Greenbelt are mostly political choices. Greenbelt has a federal courthouse nearby, and transportation is good at Landover, but the main reason for both is to pump federal dollars into a minority-majority Democractic stronghold. Refer to the Commerce Department’s move to New Carrolton in Prince George’s County.
Franconia in Virginia is close to air, rail, and road transportation and closer to the FBI training center at Quantico. It’s also in a more peaceful area with better neighborhoods for employees.
I’d bet it goes to Landover.
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