by WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that the agency will be relocating 1,500 FBI agents, analysts, and staff from Washington, D.C., to offices across the country. He also revealed plans to shut down the bureau’s historic headquarters, calling the current building “unsafe for our workforce.”
Patel, speaking during a Fox News interview with anchor Maria Bartiromo, gave his clearest update yet on his long-discussed intention to move personnel out of the nation’s capital and repurpose the J. Edgar Hoover Building—possibly into a museum about the so-called “deep state.”
He explained that around 11,000 of the FBI’s 38,000 employees currently work within a 50-mile radius of D.C., an area known as the National Capital Region.
“That’s about a third of our total staff,” Patel said. “But only a third of the crime happens here. So we’re moving 1,500 people out—every state is getting additional support.”
While Patel didn’t go into detail about where the new headquarters will be located, his comments confirm what past FBI directors and lawmakers have acknowledged: the Hoover Building is outdated and in poor condition.
“I wasn’t planning to announce this yet,” Patel admitted during the broadcast, “but I’ll say it here: the FBI is leaving the Hoover Building. It’s not safe for our people.”
His remarks even caught Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who joined him for the interview, off guard.
“We want Americans to know,” Patel continued, “if you’re going to work at the top law enforcement agency in the world, you de
