House panel subpoenas White House over State facility

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed a top White House official for documents relating to the construction of a State Department training facility in Virginia.

The subpoena, sent to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan on Wednesday, gives the agency until 5 p.m. next Tuesday to submit the requested materials.

{mosads}Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the Foreign Affairs panel, wants the OMB to provide information related to a training center that the State Department has decided to build at Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Va.

The center would be used to train up to 10,000 diplomatic security officers and other agency personnel.

Since last year, Royce and other lawmakers have questioned the shifting cost of the project and why the administration didn’t pursue a cheaper option. Last September, he and two other GOP committee chairmen asked the department to halt the project until the Government Accountability Office conducted a review.

Originally, the new facility was expected to cost about $950 million, but a reduction in scope brought it down to $907 million and then to $460 million, but the State Department has said the price could change again.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed to use an existing training facility in Glynco, Ga., which is used to train personnel from 91 law enforcement and military agencies, including those who work in diplomatic security.

The DHS proposed to expand and upgrade that center by constructing new buildings, driving tracks and weapons ranges, which would come at a cost of about $272 million.

Despite the difference in cost, the State Department decided to move forward with the new facility. Gregory Starr, the assistant secretary of State for diplomatic security, told The Hill in March that the government believes that the Virginia plan is ideal, in part because of its proximity to other training sites in the Washington, D.C., area. 

“We’ve looked at this six ways from Sunday and how to maximize our training capabilities,” he said. “Our choice is Fort Pickett.”

A State Department official familiar with the plans added that the site at Glynco does not have “capabilities” the State Department needs and that the government found it would have to build 90 percent of what’s needed at either site.

“OMB has been working with the committee in good faith to provide relevant material responsive to its requests and will continue to do so,” spokeswoman Melanie R. Newman said in a statement to The Hill about the subpoena.

Ben Kamisar contributed