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The directorate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has declared a historic decision: the agency will shutter for good its sprawling headquarters and transition personnel to different office spaces.

Relocation Plans for the Top Law Enforcement Agency

According to a recent announcement, the older J. Edgar Hoover Building, a landmark in central Washington, will be closed permanently. The staff will be based in current locations elsewhere.

This strategic shift will see a number of personnel moving into space within the Reagan Building, which was once the home of another government department.

“After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we put together a deal to forever shutter the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a secure and contemporary building,” officials said.

Fiscal Responsibility and Homeland Defense Focus

The move is positioned as a way to more wisely spend public resources. Officials noted that this plan focuses spending appropriately: on national security, law enforcement, and protecting national security.

It is also meant to providing the bureau's current workforce with better tools at a fraction of the cost compared to staying in the older structure.

Political Controversies and the Headquarters' History

This decision comes after previous political disputes concerning the agency's headquarters location. Earlier, state leaders had initiated legal action over the cancellation of prior plans to move the headquarters to their jurisdiction, arguing that money had already been set aside by lawmakers for that relocation.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building itself is a distinctive example of Brutalist design, designed and constructed in the 1960s. Its aesthetic has long been a point of controversy, as it broke with the design tradition of other government structures in the city.

Its own former director, J. Edgar Hoover, was reportedly critical of the building, once lambasting it as “the ugliest building ever built in the history of Washington.”