The Trump administration on Monday recommended that the current FBI building in downtown Washington, D.C., be torn down and replaced.
The General Services Administration (GSA) and the FBI voiced their support of a new report to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for constructing a new building at the current location of the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“The work of the FBI requires a modern and secure headquarters with technology and equipment to support the men and women of the FBI who are dedicated to keeping our country safe,” the GSA said in a statement.
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The GSA said the bureau would be temporarily relocated while the Hoover building is torn down and rebuilt.
“The FBI believes this proposed consolidation strategy enhances mission resiliency, continuity of operations, and will provide the Bureau with the agility necessary to meet future needs,” the FBI said in a statement.
The agency and the FBI intend to seek appropriations for the new facility.
FBI experts and members of Congress were stunned by the announcement, according to the Post. A number of years and millions of dollars have been spent by the GSA to secure approval for sites in Maryland and Northern Virginia.
The GSA has recommended for years that the FBI have a suburban headquarters in Northern Virginia or Maryland that would hold all of the bureau’s 11,000 workers.
FBI officials have long expressed concerns that the current FBI headquarters could be vulnerable to attacks.
The Post reported in July that the government would end its search for a new headquarters for the bureau.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) criticized the administration’s move on Monday.
“This sudden and unexpected decision by the Trump administration raises serious questions about what or who could have motivated such a decision. Why the Trump administration would so suddenly forgo years of study that led to careful recommendations — not to mention the millions of dollars spent in the effort to move the bureau’s headquarters — is beyond astounding, and quite frankly, extremely alarming,” Hoyer said in a statement to the Post.
Updated at 5:38 p.m.