For more than a decade, government leaders have sought to move the FBI’s workforce out of the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown D.C.
GREENBELT, Md. — Maryland leaders are suing the Trump administration over its plan to keep the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in D.C., despite a years-long fight to move to Greenbelt in Prince George’s County.
For more than a decade, government leaders have sought to move the FBI’s workforce out of the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown D.C. and into a new, state-of-the-art facility in the DMV’s suburbs. The new facility would have moved more than 7,000 FBI employees out of the FBI’s current headquarters in Washington.
Under the Biden administration, the General Services Administration (GSA) selected Greenbelt as the future site of the FBI’s new headquarters. The decision followed a competitive selection process between Maryland and Virginia. Advocates for Prince George’s County have emphasized the potential economic boost the project would bring.
U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Maryland) said while he agrees the headquarters needs to move out of the District, he emphasized the need to keep the plans in Greenbelt.
“Greenbelt is the site ready to go, and it went through a decade of vetting, and we have money set aside to do it,” Ivey said earlier this year.
“We went through a rigorous competitive process,” added Aisha Braveboy, Prince George’s County County Executive, said. “We have a real stake in the outcome of this. We were awarded that site fair and square.”
Despite the GSA’s decision and bipartisan local support, President Donald Trump spoke out against the Greenbelt site in March.
“They were going to build an FBI headquarters three hours away in Maryland, a liberal state,” Trump said—though the site is approximately 30 to 60 minutes from downtown D.C., depending on traffic. “We’re going to stop it, not going to let that happen. We’re going to build another big FBI building right where it is.”
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, is the latest effort from Maryland leaders to keep the new HQ in Maryland.
“Maryland earned the new FBI headquarters through a fair and transparent selection process that took more than 10 years – a rigorous evaluation that identified Greenbelt as the site best suited to meet the FBI’s security, operational space, and mission needs,” Brown said. “Now, the Trump administration wants to undermine that process, ignore the law, and divert more than $1 billion meant for a purpose-built headquarters – redirecting it instead to a nearly 30-year-old building unfit to accommodate the Bureau. We will not let the Trump administration strip away what Prince George’s County won and deny its communities the transformative benefits this project would bring.”
Congressman Steny Hoyer said the administration is openly defying Congress, the law, and the Constitution.
“Instead of working with Team Maryland to proceed with the FBI’s new headquarters in Greenbelt, President Trump and FBI Director Patel are trying to redirect funding Congress appropriated for the project and crowd the agency into the 30-year-old Ronald Reagan building in D.C.,” Hoyer said. “Crucially, the Trump Administration is undermining the FBI and its vital law enforcement and national security mission by continuing to deprive it of a secure, consolidated facility.”
With this lawsuit, Attorney General Brown and Prince George’s County seek to:
- Stop the unlawful selection of the Ronald Reagan Building as the FBI headquarters site
- Prevent the diversion of more than $1 billion in congressionally appropriated funds from the Greenbelt project
- Ensure the federal government follows the law and honors Congress’s explicit directives
- Protect Maryland’s investment and the economic opportunities promised to Prince George’s County communities
Meanwhile, D.C. leaders are still pushing to keep the headquarters in the city.
“Having the FBI headquarters in our nation’s capital and near the Department of Justice keeps America safer,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser.
She added that the District stands ready to assist the FBI in securing both temporary and permanent space.
With no finalized plan for a permanent headquarters, the future location of the FBI remains uncertain — caught in a political tug-of-war with national security implications.