FBI to close Washington HQ, move staff, director tells Fox

FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox Business that he plans to relocate 1,500 employees throughout state bureaus. He also complained that a third of the agency’s workforce right now is located in Washington, D.C.

“This FBI is leaving the Hoover Building because this building is unsafe for our workforce,” Patel said. The preview clip that Fox posted did not include any explanation by Patel about what was unsafe about the current headquarters or a timeline for the move. As of noon Friday, the FBI had not yet formally announced the move.

Patel’s full interview with Fox Business will air Sunday.

Where is the headquarters now? The J. Edgar Hoover Building, known for its brutalist architecture, has housed the FBI since 1975, but the agency considered relocation options for more than a decade. In 2023, the Biden administration selected Greenbelt, Md., for the site of a new headquarters. It planned to keep the Hoover Building as a small office of up to 1,000 employees. In February, the Government Services Administration inspector general issued a report that found the decision to award Maryland with the new headquarters may have been biased. Some of the five criteria were weighted differently to give Maryland an advantage. Trump has frequently commented that the building looks ugly, but in March he said the agency would remain. 

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report on Kash Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing.