Bureau beast: New FBI HQ would be twice size of Pentagon

FPI / February 7, 2023

As part of the notorious omnibus bill passed late last year, the U.S. government plans to construct a new headquarters for the FBI that would be twice the size of the Pentagon.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has set the criteria for choosing the site for the new FBI HQ: FBI mission requirement; transportation access for FBI personnel; site development flexibility, which includes the suitability of the actual property and the earliest time construction could begin; promoting sustainable siting; advancing equity; and cost.

Of those, "cost to the taxpayer is viewed as least important. The equity criterion, to comply with diversity and climate-change executive orders signed by Joe Biden, is weighted as 50 percent more important than the cost," J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, noted in a Feb. 1 analysis for American Greatness.

The site, design, and structure of the new FBI headquarters must “advance racial equity and support for underserved communities through the Federal Government,” the GSA says, citing Executive Orders 13985 and 14057. The FBI complex must be a “sustainable location” to “strengthen the vitality and livability of the communities” in the area, according to GSA.

Team Biden defines “equity” as “the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons.”

The GSA said it has selected three sites as contenders for the new FBI HQ. Those sites are large parcels of 58, 61, and 80 acres.

The 58-acre property in Springfield, Virginia is “federally owned land under the jurisdiction, custody, and control of GSA,” the GSA said.

The government would have to buy or lease either of the other two properties, which are in Maryland. The State of Maryland and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority own the 61-acre site in Greenbelt. The 80-acre parcel is the former Landover Mall, which is privately owned.

All members of Congress who voted in favor of the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus spending bill voted to fund the start of the new FBI headquarters.

The now Republican-controlled House, however, "can exercise power of the purse to stop this semi-stealth FBI expansion and force the bureau to cooperate fully with Congress," Waller wrote.

The House can:

• Allow no funds to purchase, lease, or develop land not presently owned by the federal government. That would eliminate the two proposed sites in Maryland.

• Allow no funds to design, develop, or construct federal property bound to diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas or any programs that promote or enforce cultural Marxism with tax dollars.

• Conduct lengthy, open hearings and a broad public debate about why the FBI needs a headquarters superplex that’s twice the size, or more, of the Pentagon.

• Don’t appropriate or authorize a penny until the FBI cooperates fully with Congress to identify and hold individuals accountable for political abuses of power and criminal activity within the bureau.

Free Press International
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