Politics
JUST IN: Kash Patel Announces Action On Long-Awaited Campaign Promise
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington D.C., which has served as the bureau’s headquarters since 1975, will be closing. Patel had long vowed to close the building when discussing his agenda should he become FBI director while on the campaign trail in 2024.
“After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a safe, modern facility,” Patel posted to X on Friday. “Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could.”
The decision finalizes plans to shut down the aging headquarters, citing unsafe conditions and the need for strategic restructuring. The building, described as obsolete with outdated IT infrastructure.
Officials recently scrapped a nearly $5 billion plan for a new building that would not have opened until 2035. Patel noted that the bureau instead opted to relocate most staff to the existing Reagan Building.
“When we arrived, taxpayers were about to be on the hook for nearly $5 billion for a new headquarters that wouldn’t open until 2035. We scrapped that plan. Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building,” Patel’s post continued. This move, the director said, saved billions in taxpayer funding and allowed the transition to start immediately.
He added that necessary safety and infrastructure renovations are already underway in order to accelerate the transition. “Once complete, most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in, and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, where they will remain,” Patel wrote.
“This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today’s FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost,” he added, concluding his post by doubling down on the promise to shutter the Hoover Building.
December 26: Shutting down the Hoover Building.
After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a safe, modern facility. Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) December 26, 2025
The announcement falls in line with campaign promises both from President Donald Trump and Patel himself, when the latter was only viewed as a possible candidate for FBI director.
Trump has historically criticized the building as “terrible” and intervened in relocation plans during his previous administration, including pulling the plug on a new headquarters in 2017 and more recently stating intentions to block a move to Maryland.
Patel notably stated that one of his first orders of business would be to shutter the Hoover Building, which would then be turned into a museum. “I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state,” Patel said during an appearance on the “Shawn Ryan Show” in 2024.
“Then, I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. You’re cops — go be cops.”
