The FBI will permanently shut down its longtime headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, marking the end of the agency’s more than 50-year presence at the site, according to an announcement Friday by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Move to Former USAID Headquarters
The bureau said it will relocate operations to the former U.S. Agency for International Development headquarters, also known as the Reagan Building. The decision follows years of stalled plans to either replace or renovate the aging Hoover Building.
Cost Savings Cited
In a post on X, Patel said constructing a new FBI headquarters would have cost taxpayers roughly $5 billion and would not have opened until 2035. By moving into the existing USAID facility, he said, the FBI will save billions of dollars and begin the transition immediately.
Patel added that the move allows the agency to redirect resources toward national security, violent crime prevention and modern tools for its workforce, calling the closure of the Hoover Building permanent.
Long-Running Debate Over the Building
Patel first announced plans to close the Hoover Building in July, though its future remained uncertain at the time. Restoration of the structure was expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
During the Biden administration, the FBI selected a site in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a new headquarters, but the plan was scrapped under President Donald Trump. Maryland has since filed a lawsuit accusing the administration of unlawfully diverting congressionally approved funding.
End of an Era
The Hoover Building, named after the FBI’s first director, J. Edgar Hoover, opened in 1975 and has served as the bureau’s headquarters ever since. Its permanent closure brings that chapter of FBI history to an end.
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