MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

FBI announces permanent closure of Hoover Building

“Working directly with President [Donald] Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could,” Patel stressed

The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) announced Friday that the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the agency's primary headquarters since 1975, will be closed permanently, with the agency's staff relocated to the existing Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C.

The decision marks the end of a decades-long debate regarding the aging Pennsylvania Avenue facility and cancels a previous multibillion-dollar plan to build a new campus in the Maryland suburbs.

FBI Director Kash Patel characterized the move as a major victory for fiscal responsibility, claiming the previous administration’s plan would have cost taxpayers nearly US$5 billion and would not have been completed until 2035.

“We scrapped that plan,” Patel stated via social media. “Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building, saving billions and allowing the transition to begin immediately.”

According to Patel, required safety and infrastructure upgrades at the Reagan Building are already underway. He emphasized that the relocation would provide the workforce with modern tools “at a fraction of the cost.”

The closure of the Hoover Building is part of a broader strategic shift to reduce the Bureau's physical and administrative presence in the capital. “This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost. The Hoover Building will be shut down permanently,” Patel pointed out.

The Director intends to move a significant portion of the headquarters' 7,000 employees out of Washington. “Most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in [to the Reagan Building], and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field,” he explained.

Patel has been a vocal critic of the Bureau's centralized intelligence “shops.” In previous public statements, he suggested converting the Hoover Building into a “Museum of the Deep State” to highlight what he describes as government overreach.

While a specific date for the final shutdown has not been released, the selection of the Ronald Reagan Building ensures the FBI remains close to the Department of Justice. This proximity was cited by the administration as a key reason for canceling the Maryland relocation project back in March.

The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is the second-largest government building in the country after the Pentagon, and already houses several federal agencies, including USAID and US Customs and Border Protection.