Lots of money is at stake with such a large project, and that question of site selection has set up a squalid competition between the governors and legislators of the two states to trash-talk each other while elbowing their way to the top of the trough.
Well, there are some decisive site selection considerations which are purely objective and empirical, and first among those considerations is location, location, and location. That brings us to the latest twist in the site selection competition.
This week the FBI released data that documents the obvious: i.e., that the various key locations FBI agents need to frequent are all located in Virginia, not Maryland. Read it here: FBI Provides Data On Trips To Quantico As GSA Considers New HQ Site.
Here's the money quote:
The new June document, titled “New FBI Headquarters Site Selection Plan: Background Information on FBI Mission Requirement Criteria,” stated that evaluation of site proximity to FBI Quantico has been a key consideration throughout the process of choosing a new headquarters site “because the FBI’s law enforcement and national security operations will always rely on physical responses and in-person interactions.”
“Distances matter when surging to a command post, responding to a WMD event, meeting to review evidence and build a case, or driving to Quantico for hands-on training or joint exercises,” the FBI said in the document. “From a time-savings and environmental perspective, it is meaningfully important to limit the need for the FBI workforce to spend several hours in a car commuting back and forth between locations.”
Maryland, give it up. Your proposed sites were never serious contenders. At this point you should drop out in the overall interests of the government and then hit GSA up for some tasty consolation prize.
11 comments:
What could they possibly call their new HQs!
"The Hoovertorium" would be good, but his time has probably passed. "Bureau of Unchecked and Unaccountable Power" would be my choice.
I like the bureau of "unchecked and unaccountable power", I would say they also are carrying out that hallowed tradition of no architectural taste.
Boy, things are getting interesting in your neck of the woods.
Well, I guess it IS shaping up to be an unusually rocky election season. Whatever happens, it's bound to hold your interest.
Those unnamed sources are everywhere, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one!
Unnamed sources support half the local economy here. We wouldn't know how to read the news without them.
Quite true!!
Has all the excitement worn you out? Haven't seen you in a while.
I have to plead a bit of holiday fatigue, but I hope to come back strong in a few days.
I posted a very brief item today about Blow-Gate and online betting about who owned that White House cocaine. My best bet is that it will never be settled, but the political damage is done anyway. As LBJ said about a slur he launched against a rival, "make that SOB deny it!" That's all you have to do.
Ah, the perils of having a good time, in DC yet!
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