New FBI HQ: Good Building, Bad Idea

That building cannot met some key security standards that apply to an FBI HQ. Either this idea is a nonstarter or someone will have to approve a waiver. https://t.co/xyS869sl6y

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) July 2, 2025

So the latest twist in the very long saga of how we'll replace the Hoover Building has come out of the blue: move the FBI into the very large and pretty modern Reagan Building in the Federal Triangle, formerly the HQ of the Agency for International Development. 

The Reagan Building was one of the late Senator Moynihan's pet projects, after he took a big interest in federal architecture. The less said about his taste for woo-woo design over physical security the better, I say, but that's a topic for another day. 

I think the selection of the Reagan Building for the FBI is very misguided because the building has a big security deficiency, and it is one that cannot be made better by any renovation or upgrade project. 

What critical feature is it that the building lacks? Hint: it rhymes with "get-back." 

For thirty years now the USG has had an Interagency Security Committee which creates and enforces security standards for domestic federal civilian office premises. Those standards are not dissimilar to the famously onerous ones that govern our imposing Fortress Embassies abroad, only they are toned down to what the ISC figures is pertinent to domestic threats. 

Moreover, those standards are linked to facility security levels which are derived from several criteria. A building such as the FBI headquarters checks all the boxes for a very high facility security level. 

If there is a shortfall between the level of security that the ISC requires of an FBI HQ and what the Reagan Building can deliver, well, then, it looks like some responsible official will have to stick his neck out by taking accountability for that shortfall.

I look forward to an epic display of buck-passing when that reality sinks in to the small circle of officials who are senior enough to sign on that dotted line.