The General Services Administration announced on Nov. 8 that Greenbelt has been selected as the site of the new headquarters for the FBI.
The headquarters will be located within walking distance of the Greenbelt Metro station, one of the benefits touted by proponents of the site. The site is expected to have over 7,500 jobs and would cost an estimated $3.5 billion.
“This is a game-changer. The economic ripple effects are so massive and will bring so much to the city,” said Greenbelt Council member Ric Gordon in a phone interview. “I’m so thankful for our congressional delegation, county executive and governor for getting this done. There is no better place to put this than Greenbelt. This is a win for Greenbelt!”
The three site locations under consideration were Greenbelt and Landover in Prince George’s, along with Springfield in northern Virginia. The decision has disappointed Virginia leaders including Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, who have questioned the selection criteria and accused the Biden administration of caving to political pressure. Equity, access to transportation, and site cost were among the evaluation criteria.
“They’re fighting for their residents, and I’m fighting for mine,” said Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in an interview about the site selection. “We are taxpayers too, we just want to make sure that federal dollars benefit all communities.”
The White House has come out to call this “a fair and transparent process by the [General Services Administration (GSA)], in consultation with the FBI.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray has also criticized the process, citing a lack of transparency and fairness in the site selection by the GSA in a letter to his employees.
“After a thorough deliberation process and consideration of stakeholder input, the GSA selected the Greenbelt site as the location for the new FBI headquarters. The GSA’s analysis of the facts and its consultations revealed that the Greenbelt site is the most fitting site of the three final candidates when all factors were considered together,” Gov. Wes Moore (D), Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D) and Alsobrooks said in a joint statement.
“We agree with the GSA’s determination that based on merit the Greenbelt site is best suited to serve the present and future FBI and the dedicated public servants who work tirelessly to protect America and uphold the law. Considering cost to the taxpayer, equity, construction timeline, transportation access, and the FBI’s mission requirements, we have long believed that Greenbelt is the best site for this crucial facility. We are pleased that the GSA arrived at the same conclusion. Our decades-long, bipartisan effort to bring the Maryland sites’ many merits to the GSA’s attention was never about politics. It was always about making the case for what is best for the FBI, our region, and the country.”
