FBI managers were informed Friday that up to 1,500 agents and staff will be reassigned from the bureau’s Washington, D.C., headquarters to satellite offices across the country, according to multiple sources.
Top managers were given details on the relocation plan, which will see around 1,000 agents and administrative employees moved from the J. Edgar Hoover Building to field offices in cities designated by the Trump administration as high-crime areas. Another 500 will be transferred to the FBI’s satellite headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama, sources said.
The Hoover Building currently houses the FBI’s leadership team and major operational divisions, including counterintelligence, national security, and cyber units, along with a significant number of non-agent personnel handling administrative functions like human resources, budgeting, and IT.
Before taking office, newly sworn in FBI director Kash Patel had been outspoken about his intent to shut down the headquarters, calling it a “museum to the Deep State.” He reiterated this stance during his confirmation hearing and in appearances on conservative media.
“One of my biggest personal recommendations is … you send those 7,000 agents in the headquarters building downrange to chase down rapists, to chase down murderers, to chase down drug traffickers, and let the cops be cops on the streets across America,” Patel said during an August interview.
