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Why is FBI permanently closing Hoover Building? Kash Patel provides update, ‘Taxpayers were about to be…’
Kash Patel has announced that the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which houses the FBI's main headquarters in Washington, D.C., is permanently closing.
FBI Director Kash Patel has announced that the J. Edgar Hoover Building is permanently closing. The building houses the FBI's main headquarters in Washington, D.C. Most FBI staff will be relocated to the existing Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, instead.
The Hoover Building has served as the agency’s main headquarters since 1975.
“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 safe, modern facility. Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could,” Patel wrote on X.
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He continued, “When we arrived, taxpayers were about to be on the hook for nearly $5 billion for a new headquarters that wouldn’t open until 2035. We scrapped that plan. Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building, saving billions and allowing the transition to begin immediately with required safety and infrastructure upgrades already underway. Once complete, most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in, and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, where they will remain.”
The FBI Director added, “This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost. The Hoover Building will be shut down permanently.”
Patel did not specify a date for the relocation.
Why is the Hoover Building closing?
While Patel did not specify a reason for the decision, he previously did voice his displeasure with the J. Edgar Hoover Building. He once even said that he would shut the site down and convert it into a “museum of the Deep State” if he gets the opportunity.
“The FBI’s footprint has gotten too friggin’ big,” Patel said during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show in 2023.
“And the biggest problem the FBI [comes] out of its intel shops. I’d break that component out of it,” he added. “I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one... and reopen it next day as a museum of the Deep State. And I’d take the 7,000 people who work in that building and send them across America to go and chase criminals... What do you need 7,000 people there for?”
The Trump administration in March canceled existing plans to build a new FBI headquarters in Maryland. At the time, it cited high costs and a lengthy construction schedule, adding that the FBI headquarters needed to remain near the Department of Justice (DOJ).
