A new effort is underway in Congress to relocate the headquarters of the FBI from Washington, D.C., to Hunstville, Alabama.
The Wall Street Journal reported that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is planning to attach a provision to the upcoming appropriations bill that will freeze the funding for a proposed new FBI headquarters unless the facility is moved to Huntsville. The current FBI headquarters is in the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the U.S. Department of Justice, but that building opened in 1975 and is now considered inadequate for the agency’s needs.
The choice of Huntsville is not a random selection – the FBI already has a presence on the campus of Redstone Arsenal, a U.S. Army post in the city, and it is in the process of expanding it office space at the site. Jordan has been a critic of the FBI and has openly questioned whether it has been unduly influenced by left-wing politics – but whether that could be resolved by putting the agency in red state Alabama is unclear.
Nonetheless, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle is ready to have his city as the headquarters home to the agency.
“We’re proud of the FBI presence in Huntsville and will support whatever Congress decides is best for the betterment of our country,” Battle said.
Photo of the J. Edgar Hoover Building by Cisko66 / Wikimedia Commons