Maryland officials vow to fight Trump plans to relocate FBI to another site in D.C.

Exterior of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, facing 14th Street NW in Washington, the proposed new home of the FBI. (Photo by Jerry Glaser/Customs and Border Protection)

State, federal and local officials who fought for years to bring the new FBI headquarters to Prince George’s County said Tuesday the fight is not over, after the surprise Trump administration announcement that the agency will stay downtown.

The FBI will move into existing space at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, just a few blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the current dilapidated headquarters in the aging J. Edgar Hoover Building, according to a statement from the FBI and the General Services Administration.

“Moving to the Ronald Reagan Building is the most cost effective and resource efficient way to carry out our mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement.

The move reverses a 2023 GSA decision that identified a site near the Greenbelt Metro for the new headquarters, following years of study and of competition between Maryland and Virginia jurisdictions to land the site.

Gov. Wes Moore (D), Prince Georges’ County Executive Aisha Braveboy (D) and almost all of the state’s congressional delegation — calling themselves Team Maryland — insisted Tuesday that Greenbelt is still the better site.

“Simply moving down the street would ignore the real threats the Bureau faces and further jeopardize the safety of those protecting our communities. That’s why we will be fighting back against this proposal with every tool we have,” the Team Maryland statement said.

The agency has been seeking new headquarters for years to replace the J. Edgar Hoover Building, a brutalist facility that is cramped, has leaks and pieces of concrete occasionally falling onto the street below.

In November 2023, the GSA picked Greenbelt over another site in Prince George’s County, Landover, and over a site in Springfield, Virginia.

Virginia representatives charged that the selection of Maryland was flawed after a federal inspector general’s report released in February found fault with the process. But the report never stated there was a problem with the Greenbelt site itself.

Whatever reservations they may have had about the Greenbelt site, however, was put aside by Virginia’s senators for criticism of the Reagan Building proposal, which Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine said “isn’t a plan, it’s a punt.” The two Democrats said the choice of a new site was typical of the Trump administration’s haphazard approach to the federal workforce.

“For years, Democratic and Republican administrations alike have agreed on the need for a secure, purpose-built headquarters that actually meets the FBI’s mission needs,” said a joint statement from Kaine and Warner, “This announcement brushes aside years of careful planning, ignores the recommendations of security and mission experts, and raises serious concerns about how this decision was made.”

President Donald Trump has never been a fan of moving the FBI out of the District. He tried to cancel it in his first term and in March of this year, less that two months after returning to office, he said he would not let the agency move “three hours away in Maryland, a liberal state.” He quickly said the state’s political leanings had no bearing on his decision, but never corrected the fact that Greenbelt is about 16 miles by car from the current headquarters.

Patel has talked in recent months about relocating headquarters staff to other parts of the country, but Tuesday’s announcement seems to have put that talk on hold.

GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters said in a statement that move to the Reagan building avoids more than $300 million in deferred maintenance cost the current FBI headquarters.

“We are proud to partner with Director Patel to drive efficiency and improve the quality of space for a productive workforce in service to national security and taxpayers,” Peters said.

According to its website, the Reagan Building is home to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Until recently, it was also home to the U.S. Agency on International Developement, before that agency was gutted by the Trump administration and closed as an independent agency effective Tuesday, presumably freeing up space in the building.

But the building also has 22 event spaces to host weddings and events. Plans are scheduled for two events Wednesday, and a concert series on a plaza starts Monday and continues through September.

Del. Nicole Williams (D-Prince George’s), whose legislative district includes the Greenbelt site, called Tuesday’s decision “very interesting.”

“That [Ronald Reagan] building is a very open building. I’ve gone there for private events and conferences,” Williams, who chairs the county’s delegation in the House of Delegate, said in an interview.

“I still maintain that the Greenbelt site is the better location for the relocation of the FBI. It’s disappointing to hear the administration trying to undermine what was already done through the official GSA process,” she said.

“Congress has already appropriated funds for the purpose of the construction of the new FBI headquarters in Maryland. Now the administration’s attempting to redirect those funds really undermines congressional intent,” Williams said, echoing arguments of Team Maryland.

Williams and her two Democratic District 22 colleagues – Dels. Anne Healey and Ashanti Martinez – sponsored legislation that went into effect Tuesday directing the governor to include $200 million in the state budget “for site redevelopment and to improve transportation infrastructure for the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters relocation project.”