FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Friday that the agency will relocate 1,500 employees to various facilities across the country, vacating its historic headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover Building.
Patel stated in an interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, “This FBI is departing from the Hoover building due to safety concerns for our workforce.” He emphasized the agency’s commitment to providing a secure environment for its personnel, asserting, “We want the American public to understand that if you choose to work for the leading law enforcement agency globally, we will ensure you have a facility that reflects that standard, and this building does not meet those criteria.”
Patel did not specify a timeline for the move or the location of the new headquarters, nor did he detail the safety issues related to the imposing brutalist structure situated on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Congress.
President Trump has contemplated reconstruction for several years, as the Hoover building, completed in 1975 after over a decade of construction, occupies a prime piece of real estate.
In March, Trump suggested that his administration plans to construct a new, substantial FBI building on the same site, asserting that this would be appropriate since the FBI and the DOJ need to be in close proximity. The location of a temporary office remains uncertain.
Patel stated that the FBI’s full staffing capacity is 38,000 personnel, although they are currently not at that level. Within the national capital region, which encompasses a 50-mile radius around Washington, DC, there are 11,000 FBI employees, representing approximately one-third of the total workforce.
He emphasized that a significant portion of crime does not occur in this area. Consequently, we are reallocating 1,500 agents from this pool. Each state will receive an increase in personnel. Such actions are intended to motivate individuals across America to pursue careers as intelligence analysts and agents, with the goal of combating violent crime and deploying agents nationwide.
He further mentioned that significant progress will be made in the coming three to nine months. Additionally, Patel has been actively engaged this week, and the FBI director recently acknowledged on social media that federal agencies are investigating a now-deleted tweet from former Director James Comey, which many interpreted as a threat against President Donald Trump.
We acknowledge the recent social media statement made by former FBI Director James Comey, which was aimed at President Trump. We are currently in contact with the Secret Service and Director Curran. The primary jurisdiction in these matters lies with the Secret Service, and we, the FBI, will extend all required assistance, as stated by Patel in a tweet.
Comey shared an image of seashells arranged to depict the numbers ’86 47′, which many interpreted as a suggestion to assassinate Trump, the 47th president. The term ’86’ is commonly understood as slang for a ‘hit.
In his post, he also commented, ‘cool shell formation on my beachwalk.’ Later, the former FBI director, who was dismissed by Trump early in his presidency for misconduct, posted another message on X, asserting that he was unaware that some individuals associate those numbers with violence.
Trump addressed the post during an interview with Fox News, where he criticized Comey for his claimed lack of awareness. ‘He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant? That meant assassination,’ Trump stated.
‘He wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant.’ Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security who oversees the Secret Service, also posted on X: ‘DHS and Secret Service are investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.’
Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, stated that Comey’s post constituted a threat that warrants imprisonment.
