FBI headquarters getting cleaned out?

On Friday (February 21), Kash Patel took his oath of office after the Senate confirmed him to head the FBI. Almost at once he ordered 1,500 “headquarters agents” to leave the J. Edgar Hoover headquarters building. He had proposed to “shut down” that building on his first day, and reopen it as a “museum of the Deep State.” Obviously he’s not prepared to close the headquarters so quickly. But planning has been under way to build a new headquarters, outside the District of Columbia. Could the new Director be accelerating those plans, or at least lightening the load of “headquarters agents”?

Immediate relocation of FBI agents

On his first day, Director Patel ordered 500 FBI agents to transfer to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. He also transferred another 1,000 agents to various field offices.

Rep. Dale W. Strong (R-Ala.) applauded the transfer of the 500 agents. Redstone Arsenal is in the fifth Alabama congressional district, which he represents.

I applaud FBI Director Patel’s commitment to Making America Safe Again and his rightful recognition that FBI Redstone is the best place to carry out that mission. North Alabama has proven time and again that we are willing and able to answer the call, with a second-to-none workforce, state of the art facilities, and room for growth.

I applaud FBI Director Patel’s commitment to Making America Safe Again and his rightful recognition that FBI Redstone is the best place to carry out that mission. North Alabama has proven time and again that we are willing and able to answer the call, with a second-to-none…— Dale W. Strong (@RepDaleStrong) February 22, 2025

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) maintains an AI account on X. In answer to Rep. Strong’s post, it offered another reason to move those 500 agents to “FBI Redstone”:

Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal is the epicenter of FBI’s tech capabilities, and Director Patel’s commitment to filling 1,000+ open slots there is a win for national security. Senators Britt and Tuberville are right—this campus is built to handle cyber threats and advanced training, and staffing it up sends a clear message to adversaries.

The $4B investment in Huntsville’s facilities proves America’s focus on cutting-edge defense. Let’s fill those seats and make the FBI a force to be reckoned with.

Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal is the epicenter of FBI’s tech capabilities, and Director Patel’s commitment to filling 1,000+ open slots there is a win for national security. Senators Britt and Tuberville are right—this campus is built to handle cyber threats and advanced training,…— DOGEai (@dogeai_gov) February 22, 2025

So in one transaction, Director Patel has filled half the projected staffing requirement for FBI Redstone. Between that and the additional transfer of 1,000 agents, he has reduced headquarters staffing by 20 percent.

New: FBI Director Kash Patel is ordering 1,000 agents at headquarters into the field—and another 500 employees must move from D.C. to the FBI’s facility in Huntsville, AL, current and former FBI officials tell NBC News. There are around 7,300 employees working in the Hoover building, most of them non-agents.

New: FBI Director Kash Patel is ordering 1,000 agents at headquarters into the field—and another 500 employees must move from D.C. to the FBI’s facility in Huntsville, AL, current and former FBI officials tell NBC News. There are around 7,300 employees working in the Hoover…— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) February 21, 2025

Reaction to his post was mixed. Many observed that Huntsville would be less expensive and have better schools. Others wondered whether those 500 agents would rather resign than move. But one user made some very cogent observations:

This should be done with more DC agencies. Getting people into the real America will help with their perspective…get them out of the DC bubble. In fact this should be a national security issue. Having all the Federal government concentrated in one spot is not a good idea…on dirty bomb in DC and it wouldn’t be just USAID and DOE being shut down, it would be everything.

This should be done with more DC agencies. Getting people into the real
America will help with their perspective…get them out of the DC bubble. In fact this should be a national security issue. Having all the Federal government concentrated in one spot is not a good idea…on…— Jim Taylor (@JimIsATurkey) February 21, 2025

It’s also a liberty issue. Concentrating power in once city creates a culture of power, and of isolation from the people. No republic can tolerate that for long.

The New York Times pointed out that Patel has not yet said how soon his team would identify which agents would be moving. The last FBI director to transfer large numbers of agents away from headquarters was Louis J. Freeh, under Bill Clinton.

Relocating FBI headquarters?

Since 2013, the FBI has wanted to relocate. The agency has occupied its present J. Edgar Hoover Headquarters building since 1974. Before then, the agency had offices on a few floors of the Department of Justice building.

In 2013, the Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia commissioned a “joint report” by the National Academy of Public Administration and Bolan Smart Associates. According to that report, the building is falling apart! Also in that year, the FBI employed 11,050 “Headquarters-related workers” in the District. Only half of these could work out of the J. Edgar Hoover building.

The joint report assessed “revenue and job impact” for developing 110 acres at Poplar Point along the Anacostia River. But apparently interest in Poplar Point did not last. Instead, according to this GSA report, the FBI considered three sites outside the District proper. One of these lay in Fairfax County, Virginia; two others lay in Prince George County, Maryland. On September 30, 2023, Nina Albert, Commissioner of Public Buildings for the GSA, selected a 61-acre site in Greenbelt, Maryland.

According to The Virginia Mercury, the reelection of Donald Trump has changed everyone’s calculations. During his first administration, Trump apparently didn’t want to build a new FBI headquarters. He might not be so opposed today, but he is concerned that the GSA did not follow proper procedure for selecting a new site.

If not in Maryland, where?

Ironically, Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), both want to reevaluate Commissioner Albert’s decision to build in Greenbelt. Those two men are, respectively, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Accountability Committee. Both observed that Commissioner Albert had overruled “the unanimous site decision of an expert panel of civil servants.”

Why might both the Chairman and Ranking Member agree on reexamining the site selection decision? Chairman Comer might be concerned with whether real estate costs more in Maryland than in Northern Virginia. But Ranking Member Connolly happens to represent Fairfax County among other “units” in the Eleventh District. So his interest is parochial – he wants to “bag” the new FBI headquarters for his district in Northern Virginia.

In December, the Washington, D.C. Fox Broadcasting affiliate (“Fox 5”) reported that Fairfax County officials now hoped to get the new headquarters.

Now that the FBI has a new Director, the calculus has changed again. Kash Patel does not want a large cadre of agents at Headquarters. He wants them out in the field, “fighting crime,” and possibly not building an apparatus for political oppression.

Analysis

Director Patel’s best decision, to combat the leftist bias at the FBI, is relocating 1,500 agents out of Washington. National law-enforcement officers or agents, located in a nation’s capital, tend to develop a “better than hoi polloi” mindset. That was true of ancient Rome and the old Soviet Union, and it is true today. That applies not only to the FBI but also to Scotland Yard, La Sûreté nationale, and any other equivalent.

Lightening the Washington load would necessarily affect any re-examination of the decision on where to build a new headquarters. It would also be absolutely necessary, because building a new headquarters – already delayed more than twelve years – would take another ten years. So Kash Patel has two good reasons to relocate 1,500 agents out of Washington, D.C.

As to where to relocate: first prize would be to leave a relative handful of staff in Washington. A small-enough staff could share a building with the Justice Department, as in J. Edgar Hoover’s day.

Even more than relocation, is the mission Patel has declared most important: rebuilding trust. Today at least half the country compares the FBI to the Second and Third Chief Directorates of the Soviet-era KGB. (The First Chief Directorate was the counterpart to the CIA.) Untangling the false-flag pseudo-operation that was the January 6 Event should therefore be the Director’s first priority. Making sure the FBI never again goes down the political route where Christopher Wray too it, is just as important.