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The directorate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has declared a major plan: the agency will permanently close its current headquarters and transition personnel to already established office spaces.

A New Chapter for the Top Law Enforcement Organization

According to a new statement, the older J. Edgar Hoover Building, a fixture in central Washington, will be shut down. The staff will be housed in already built locations in other parts of the city.

This operational change will see a portion of agents and staff moving into space within the Reagan Building, which previously housed another government department.

“After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a secure and contemporary building,” officials said.

Modernization and National Security Focus

The decision is framed as a way to redirect public resources. Officials emphasized that this plan puts resources where they belong: on combating threats, law enforcement, and safeguarding the country.

It is also meant to providing the modern FBI with better tools at a fraction of the cost compared to staying in the older structure.

Political Controversies and the Building's Legacy

This announcement comes after recent political disputes concerning the agency's headquarters location. Earlier, state leaders had filed a lawsuit over the termination of an earlier proposal to move the main offices to their state, arguing that appropriations had already been set aside by lawmakers for that purpose.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building itself is a prominent example of Brutalist architecture, designed and constructed in the 1960s. Its aesthetic has long been a point of debate, as it broke with the architectural style of most government structures in the capital.

Its own namesake, J. Edgar Hoover, was reportedly critical of the structure, once deriding it as “the greatest monstrosity ever built in the city of Washington.”