The leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has declared a major decision: the bureau will shutter for good its sprawling main building and transition personnel to different facilities.
According to a new statement, the older J. Edgar Hoover Building, a landmark in downtown DC, will be closed permanently. The employees will be housed in existing locations elsewhere.
This logistical change will see a portion of agents and staff moving into space within the Reagan Building, which previously housed another government department.
“Following decades of unsuccessful plans, we finalized a plan to completely vacate the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a secure and contemporary building,” officials said.
The move is framed as a way to more wisely spend public resources. Officials noted that this relocation focuses spending appropriately: on defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and safeguarding the country.
It is also meant to providing the modern FBI with better tools while saving significant funds compared to renovating the older structure.
This decision comes after previous political controversies concerning the bureau's headquarters location. Earlier, state leaders had sued over the cancellation of an earlier proposal to move the headquarters to their jurisdiction, arguing that money had already been approved by Congress for that purpose.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building itself is a notable example of Brutalist design, designed and constructed in the mid-20th century. Its appearance has long been a subject of controversy, as it stood in stark contrast to the design tradition of most government structures in the capital.
Its own former director, J. Edgar Hoover, was reportedly dismissive of the structure, once deriding it as “the greatest monstrosity ever built in the history of Washington.”
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