Concerns have been expressed about the scope and expense of the Biden administration’s plan to move the FBI’s national headquarters from Quantico, Virginia, to Greenbelt, Maryland.
On Wednesday, the U.S. General Services Administration—the agency in charge of all federal buildings—decided to move there officially. Legislators in Maryland hailed the decision, but their Virginia counterparts voiced strong opposition. The two states battled each other for the contract for a long time.
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) of the Republican Party was among those who voiced opposition to the project, claiming that the proposed structure would be more significant than the Pentagon.
Matt Gaetz sent a tweet on X on November 9, 2023, and it became viral, garnering over 1.5 million views. He said that 70 Republican senators approved spending $300 million on a new FBI headquarters that would be bigger than the Pentagon.
Gaetz’s statement cited an amendment he sought to prohibit monies from being utilized for acquiring property for a new Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters.
The Pentagon Office Building, described in the Washington Headquarters Services’ 2023 Draft Environmental Assessment, consists of 29 acres of land, a 5-acre courtyard with five sides, five complete stories of living space above ground, and a partial basement and mezzanine.
The main structure and surrounding grounds of the Pentagon are over 245 acres.
According to the study, the Pentagon site includes the main Pentagon structure, the North Village, the South Village, and the Pentagon Transit Center.
The parking lots at Hayes Street, Fern Street, and Eads Street, located north of Army-Navy Drive, are also part of the Pentagon complex.
The United States General Services Administration has estimated that of the total 61 acres that comprise the Greenbelt development site, 26.3% comprise freshwater wooded wetlands.
The proposed FBI headquarters would be constructed on a lot measuring 4.15 acres, with a maximum allowed height of 17 stories.
The new FBI headquarters, at 17 floors tall and sitting on a plot of land of 4.1 acres, is significantly smaller than the Pentagon. The Pentagon spans 29 acres and contains five complete stories.
The new Greenbelt, Maryland, FBI headquarters will be smaller than the Pentagon.
The size of the Pentagon site exceeds that of the planned Greenbelt plot.
