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EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel is shutting down the J. Edgar Hoover building and moving its headquarters across Washington to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, with President Donald Trump touting the move, telling Fox News Digital that the FBI “will finally have the kind of building they deserve.”
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a Tuesday memo Patel sent to the FBI, notifying employees of the relocation, and stressing that it is “most cost-effective way” to serve the American people, Fox News Digital has learned.
Patel, in May, first hinted that the bureau would be reallocating its workforce around the country, and would move agents out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which opened in 1975.
The FBI and the General Services Administration (GSA) have been looking at options for a new FBI headquarters for more than a decade, including locations near D.C. in Maryland and Virginia.
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“Team, the FBI Headquarters will be moving down the street to the Ronald Reagan Building, and the Hoover building will be shut down,” Patel wrote in the memo, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.
Trump told Fox News Digital that the Ronald Reagan Building is “a wonderful building,” and said the FBI is “a wonderful group of people.”
“The FBI will finally have the kind of building they deserve,” the president told Fox News Digital. “Congratulations to Kash Patel, Dan Bongino and all the great people at the FBI.”
In the memo to the FBI, Patel said the bureau is “the world’s premier law enforcement agency, and our headquarters will reflect that fact.”
“After nearly 20 years of constant churn surrounding the matter, we’ve finally gotten it done,” Patel said, adding that the move “will be the most cost-effective way to best serve the American people while most efficiently using the resources available to us.”
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Patel said that the move will also, simultaneously get “our awesome workforce, a modern, safe, and superior HQ location that will allow us to build for the future and maintain mission success while being tremendous stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Patel told the FBI that he is working “closely with Congress and GSA” to make the move “happen quickly,” but said there are “a lot of moving pieces.”
“We need to ensure our security and technology requirements are in place before HQ employees can begin making the move, in phases,” Patel wrote. “Thanks in advance for your patience, and for staying the course.”
Patel added: “Please join me in celebrating this historic milestone for the FBI.”
Patel also thanked FBI officials and employees for “all you do for the country.”
“And welcome to your new FBI, and your new FBI HQ,” Patel wrote.
A source familiar with the decision-making told Fox News Digital that “the Hoover building is a dump and not just unsafe for the FBI workforce, but unsafe for the country’s national security.”
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In 2024, the General Services Administration said it would take more than a decade to build newly constructed FBI headquarters.
“The FBI has long badly needed significant upgrades and after decades of debating, the president, administration and Director Patel are delivering — allowing the bureau to far better serve the American people at a much lower cost to taxpayers than the alternatives,” the source told Fox News Digital.
Patel has said the Hoover building is “unsafe for our workforce.”
“If you’re going to come work at the premier law enforcement agency in the world, we’re going to give you a building that’s commensurate with that, and that’s not this place,” he said.
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