FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that the bureau is leaving its longtime DC headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover Building and transferring 1,500 employees to locations around the country.
“This FBI is leaving the [J. Edgar] Hoover Building because this building is unsafe for our workforce,” Patel told Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo in an interview set to air on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“We want the American men and women to know 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,” the FBI chief added.
Patel did not specify what safety hazards are posed by the massive brutalist structure on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol — though the building is draped with nets to prevent chunks of concrete from falling onto passersby.
He also did not share a timeframe for the move or the bureau’s new headquarters location.