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The leadership of the FBI has revealed a major decision: the bureau will shutter for good its current headquarters and relocate personnel to different facilities.

A New Chapter for the Top Investigative Agency

According to a new statement, the aging J. Edgar Hoover Building, a landmark in downtown DC, will be closed permanently. The staff will be housed in current locations elsewhere.

This strategic change will see a number of agents and staff taking over space within the Reagan Building, which contained the offices of another federal agency.

“Following decades of unsuccessful plans, we have secured a strategy to permanently close the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a secure and contemporary building,” officials said.

Modernization and Homeland Defense Priorities

The initiative is framed as a way to more wisely spend public resources. Leadership stated that this action puts resources where they belong: on combating threats, law enforcement, and protecting national security.

It is also presented as providing the modern FBI with better tools for much less money compared to maintaining the outdated building.

Political Controversies and the Headquarters' Legacy

This announcement comes after recent political challenges concerning the agency's headquarters location. Earlier, state leaders had initiated legal action over the termination of an earlier proposal to move the main offices to their jurisdiction, arguing that money had already been set aside by Congress for that relocation.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building itself is a prominent example of Brutalist design, designed and constructed in the 1960s. Its appearance has long been a subject of debate, as it broke with the look of most federal buildings in the city.

Its own namesake, J. Edgar Hoover, was reportedly dismissive of the structure, once calling it “the ugliest building ever built in the history of Washington.”