Virginia and Maryland have been fighting to land a new FBI headquarters for more than a decade. But, recent developments might end up favoring Maryland.
Virginia once had a really big advantage over Maryland in landing the new FBI headquarters because of its proximity to the FBI Academy at Quantico. But now, the government agency that will choose the location is changing the criteria to give less weight to proximity to Quantico and more weight to cost and social impact.
Senator Mark Warner says Virginia meets the needs of the FBI.
"Anyone who doesn't understand that increasingly in a complicated geopolitical world that the FBI's role is critically intertwined with our other national security agencies that are, especially on the intel side, virtually all on the Virginia side, shows a remarkable lack of understanding of the issue and the problem," Warner says.
The General Services Administration already owns the 58-acre site in Springfield, and Governor Glenn Youngkin says Virginia is clearly the best choice.
"Proximity to Quantico, proximity to the intelligence community, proximity to a ready workforce, proximity to infrastructure and transportation capabilities that are far superior," the governor says. "And from an economic standpoint, it's better for taxpayers."
But Youngkin's comments criticizing the FBI for "politically motivated actions" after the search of Mar-a-Lago last summer – they might be coming back to haunt him. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is using those comments to say Virginia isn't a good fit for the FBI after all.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
