Washington Post Column: The Spirit of J. Edgar Hoover Begins to Stir in Prince George's County

Wanted to make sure you saw this Washington Post column regarding the selection process for the new, consolidated FBI Headquarters.

WASHINGTON POST

The Spirit of J. Edgar Hoover Begins to Stir in Prince George's County

By Courtland Milloy

November 29, 2022

There's a huge political fight going on between Prince George's and Fairfax counties over the prospective location of the next headquarters for the FBI.

I live in Prince George's and whenever I try to imagine an FBI headquarters here, all I see is a name — J. Edgar Hoover. And I think of Hoover giving bonuses to Black agents who helped set up Fred Hampton, a leader of the Black Panther Party in 1969, who was killed in a police raid in Chicago while he slept.

And I see Hoover using lies and blackmail in a failed attempt to make the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. give up his civil rights work. Five years from now, in 2027, evidence from Hoover's bugging of King's hotel rooms will be unsealed. And Hoover's pathological attempts to destroy King's reputation will apparently continue from beyond the grave.

As historian Beverly Gage notes in "G-man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century," her new biography, "Hoover did as much as any individual in government to contain and cripple movements seeking social justice, and thus to limit the forms of democracy and governance that might have been possible."

And yet, I understand the excitement surrounding the quest to get the FBI headquarters relocated into a state-of-the-art suburban complex. A competition that began a decade ago with 35 possible sites throughout the Washington region has been whittled down to a final three — with two of them in Prince George's County. The third is Springfield, in Fairfax County.

David Iannucci, president and chief executive of the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp., said that getting the FBI headquarters would be a "generation-shaping game changer." And, for a while, he felt the county's chances were excellent.

"Our sites are objectively better — the fastest to develop, least expensive land, easier to secure and with convenient access to mass transit," he told me.

The estimated size of the FBI complex would be 2.1 million square feet. It would hold about 11,000 FBI employees along with support personnel. Iannucci said Prince George's could see 25,000 new jobs in addition to the federal jobs. New businesses and new housing could create a ripple effect on development throughout the county, he said, and even into those less affluent areas of the District that border Prince George's.

The predominantly Black county is home to 20 percent of the federal workforce but only 5 percent of the office space. Residents and elected officials alike yearn for a substantial, transformational development. The relocation of a major federal agency, like the FBI, does not happen very often. Never in a place like Prince George's — which generally gets only the warehouse space.

"We accept that responsibility and the privilege to be the custodian of information and documents for the federal government, but we are more than just a warehouse county," said Anthony G. Brown, who was recently elected Maryland's attorney general after serving two terms in Congress representing the county.

The entire region would be made economically stronger by a more equitable distribution of government resources.

When Barbara A. Mikulski (D) represented Maryland in the Senate and served as chair of the Appropriations Committee, she once observed, correctly, "For too long, we think, Prince George's County has been redlined, sidelined, overlooked and undervalued."

That appeared to be on the verge of changing. With site selection set for December, Prince George's should have been the easy pick. Then, a few weeks ago, federal officials revealed that a new criterion had been added — one that would carry more weight than any other: proximity to Quantico, where the FBI training academy is located.

Fairfax County's Springfield site is closest to it — 33 miles. And now a new front-runner had emerged.

Md. leaders say process for picking FBI location unfairly favors Virginia

"This is an abrupt change that clearly favors Springfield and puts our county at a disadvantage," Prince George's County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said at a recent news conference. "Our sites are clear winners when it comes to transit, sustainability and cost. And as an added benefit, our sites also promote equity across the region. We ask, why then is the [General Services Administration] suddenly changing the rules of the game in the 11th hour?"

Alsobrooks said she plans to raise the issue of last-minute surprises with the White House, citing declarations made by President Biden that equity in the allocation of government resources would be a priority.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), the House majority leader who represents a part of the county, blamed the FBI on the sudden turnabout, accusing the agency of trying to put its thumb on the scale. "I think the FBI has frankly determined where it wants to go," he said.

To my mind, Hoover's spirit is still stirring at the agency. Check that weighted scale for the G-man's thumbprint. Clandestine manipulation, that was Hoover's style.

While studying law at George Washington University, Hoover had joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity — founded in 1865 in honor of Robert E. Lee. The fraternity club was a "bastion of the Lost Cause mythology that glorified the defeated plantation culture of the slaveholding South," as journalist Margaret Talbot wrote in a review of Gage's book for the New Yorker.

From the ranks of the Confederate sympathizing Kappa Alphas, Hoover found not only friendships, but also leaders for his new FBI.

Given a choice between Prince George's in Maryland, and Springfield in Virginia for the FBI's relocation, it's not hard to imagine which Hoover would choose. I can certainly imagine his being pleased with how the matter has turned out so far.

But the fight is not over. The Springfield location, despite its proximity to Quantico, does have drawbacks. At the site is a government warehouse and a CIA facility so secure that hardly anyone is known to have been inside. Everything would have to go to make room for the FBI. So far no one has seen any moving vans.

According to Iannucci, as much as 40 percent of the FBI's administrative personnel live in Prince George's. That would mean, if selected, the county would becomes less of a "bedroom community," emptied out for work by day, dead asleep at night.

I wouldn't mind having the FBI headquartered in Prince George's — despite Hoover's legacy. But leave his name on the obsolete monstrosity in downtown D.C. even as the demolition crane starts to swing.