FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency will permanently close the J. Edgar Hoover Building — the longtime home of the bureau’s Washington, D.C., headquarters — and move the headquarters workforce to an existing federal building about a half-mile away.
In a post on X on Friday, Dec. 26, Patel said the government has “finalized a plan” to shut down the Hoover headquarters and shift employees into what he described as a safer, more modern facility. He credited cooperation from President Donald Trump and Congress for pushing the move forward.
“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,” Patel wrote, adding that the bureau had “accomplished what no one else could.”
Patel claimed the previous approach would have left taxpayers responsible for nearly $5 billion for a brand-new headquarters that would not be ready until 2035. Instead, he said, the FBI will relocate to “the already-existing Reagan Building,” which he argued will “sav[e] billions” and allow the transition to begin immediately while safety and infrastructure upgrades are put in place.
“This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security,” Patel wrote. “It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost.”
Patel did not provide a relocation timeline.
The announcement also echoes comments Patel made before taking the role. In 2023, during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, he criticized the size of the bureau’s footprint and singled out its headquarters operations. “The FBI’s footprint has gotten too friggin’ big,” he said, arguing that the agency’s intelligence functions were at the center of its issues.
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He went further, saying he would shutter the Hoover Building immediately and repurpose it. “I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one… and reopen it next day as a museum of the Deep State,” he said, adding that he would disperse the thousands of employees working there across the country “to go and chase criminals.”
The J. Edgar Hoover Building has served as the FBI’s main headquarters since 1975.
In March, the Trump administration cancelled existing plans to build a new FBI headquarters in Maryland, citing high costs, a lengthy construction schedule and a need for FBI headquarters to remain near the Department of Justice (DOJ). Critics said the proposed Maryland facility would have included modern security upgrades that, in their view, could not be matched by simply updating an older building.
