The FBI will close its iconic but ageing J Edgar Hoover Building in Washington DC, with staff relocating to existing office space elsewhere in the capital, director Kash Patel has announced. The move aims to save money and improve working conditions, ending more than two decades of failed attempts to vacate the notorious brutalist structure.
In a statement on social media, Patel confirmed that the Hoover Building will be 'shut down permanently', with some employees moving to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, occupying former offices of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which was dismantled by the Trump administration earlier this year.
'After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalised a plan to permanently close the FBI's Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a safe, modern facility,' Patel wrote. He added that the decision 'puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security' at 'a fraction of the cost'.
The relocation plan has faced legal challenges. In November, leaders in Maryland sued the Trump administration after it scrapped plans to move the FBI headquarters to the state, noting that Congress had already appropriated funds for the relocation.
The J Edgar Hoover Building, designed in the 1960s, has long been criticised for its brutalist architecture. Even its namesake, former FBI director J Edgar Hoover, once called it 'the greatest monstrosity ever constructed in the history of Washington'.
