Md. Officials Push For FBI Headquarters
GREENBELT Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland is promoting Prince George's County as the ideal location for a new FBI headquarters.
Political reporter Pat Warren reports on a call from lawmakers Monday.
The FBI has outgrown its Washington, D.C. headquarters and the campaign for Prince George's County is on.
Number one on Maryland's most wanted list: the FBI.
"We are going to win this competition. We are all in," said Senator Barbara Mikulski.
According to commuting data, 43 percent of the people employed at the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C. live in Maryland. State leaders consider that just one of many good arguments for moving the agency headquartered in the J. Edgar Hoover Building to Greenbelt in Prince George's County.
"We are looking forward to doing absolutely anything it takes when our federal government decides where they want to come in Prince George's County. We are all in to make sure it happens with the road improvements that are needed and also the potential, I should mention, for transit-oriented development," said Governor Martin O'Malley.
It would cost an estimated $80 million to upgrade and repair the Hoover Building and the agency is spread over two dozen annexes.
"We don't want a micro-FBI. We want a muscular, robust FBI that says to criminals, to terrorists, to predators, you get the hell out of here; the FBI's on the job and we're doing the job in Maryland and Prince George's County," Mikulski said.
Maryland is in competition with a location in northern Virginia. The agency is expected to make a decision in the spring.
The new headquarters is an estimated $2 billion project.
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