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In Beltway battle over FBI headquarters, Virginia should admit defeat

2023-11-22 00:00:00.0 华盛顿邮报-华盛顿特区原网页

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Deni Taveras doesn’t fault Virginia lawmakers for pushing back against the decision to build the new FBI headquarters in Maryland.

She gets it. She gets that they need to represent their constituents and that many of their constituents wanted Virginia to get that building and the economic benefits that come with it.

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“The politicians have the right to do their job, and kick and scream,” Taveras told me on a recent evening. “But does that mean they should have everything?”

Her point: Let Virginia lawmakers shout, but don’t let those shouts change the decision the General Services Administration made earlier this month to build the headquarters on a plot outside the Greenbelt Metro station in Prince George’s County.

Taveras served on the Prince George’s County Council in 2016 when potential sites for the FBI building were first identified and she now represents the area as a state delegate. Because she has held those positions, she has watched more closely than most people the long battle to bring the headquarters to the majority-Black county and she understands why that victory was needed.

“It’s going to be incredibly transformative for our community,” she said. She noted how the headquarters will bring more than 7,000 jobs and attract new businesses and residents, increasing resources into the community. “This is going to affect educational outcomes. This is going to affect property values. This is going to affect opportunities of small businesses and large businesses.”

She described the win as “a well-deserved opportunity” and said, “it’s about time.”

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“Prince George’s has always been shorted on what it deserves, an equal share of federal opportunities … Virginia has the Pentagon, … Quantico and Langley,” Taveras said, referring to the CIA’s headquarters in McLean. She said it does not make sense from a fairness or from a national security perspective to also house the FBI’s headquarters there: “Why would you want to concentrate all cybersecurity resources in one location where you can drop one bomb and destroy it all? That makes our country vulnerable.”

In recent days, many Maryland officials have applauded the decision to house the headquarters in Prince George’s. They’ve also been forced to defend that decision because Virginia officials have decided to keep fighting rather than admit defeat.

“The choice of Greenbelt over Springfield, VA, for the FBI HQ, is not just a win for MD but for taxpayers, too. It’s estimated to save over $1B in land acquisition and prep costs,” wrote Del. Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George’s) in a series of tweets. He noted that the headquarters’ proximity to public transportation is a plus for accessibility and sustainability and that the site, unlike the one in Virginia, is ready for construction now. “The GSA’s decision was based on merit, not politics. This was a collaborative effort across federal, state, and county levels. Onwards.”

On Wednesday, Virginia’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the General Service Administration’s inspector general, requesting an investigation into the site selection process. The letter delivers several punches, and not gently.

“There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that the General Services Administration (GSA) administered a site selection process fouled by political considerations and alleged impropriety — one that was repeatedly curated to arrive at a predetermined outcome,” the letter reads.

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The letter, which was signed by nine of Virginia’s Democratic and Republican House members and two Democratic senators, criticizes the process that led the GSA to overrule a three-member panel that had previously chosen the Virginia location. In the letter, officials allege that the site selection criteria was changed in a way that favored the Greenbelt site, over the objections of the FBI, and that a career official who was tasked with finalizing the site selection was replaced by a political appointee with a potential conflict of interest.

“In defending the indefensible, GSA has decided to proceed with the selection of Greenbelt over the objections of its client agency, the FBI,” the letter reads. “These facts, when taken together, paint an ugly picture of a fatally flawed procurement that demands further investigation.”

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In an article my colleagues wrote about Virginia’s objections to the site selection, a GSA spokesman said the agency welcomed a review: “We carefully followed the requirements and process, and stand behind GSA’s final site selection decision.”

An investigation will cost taxpayers more money and draw out an already long-drawn-out selection process.

Absent of any hard evidence of wrongdoing, it’s time for Virginia officials to do what Maryland officials did when Amazon chose Arlington as the site for its new headquarters: graciously admit defeat.

That’s right, Virginia is also home to Amazon, in addition to those other major federal facilities. Losing is hard, and losing when you’re used to winning is harder. But this time, Virginia did not win, and the only respectable move now is to let Maryland celebrate the victory without forcing people there to keep defending that decision or to wait longer than necessary to see the benefits from it.

I say that as a Virginia resident. I have lived most of my adult life in the state and I am raising my children here. I care about what happens in Virginia. I also care what happens in D.C. and Maryland.

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When I first moved to the region, one of the first things I noticed was the hesitation of Marylanders to go to Virginia and Virginians to go to Maryland, even though those boundaries disappear with a short drive. But as a journalist, I have to cross those lines all the time, and it takes only looking broadly at this region to see that Prince George’s deserves the economic boost that the headquarters will bring. When opportunities and wealth are spread wide, instead of concentrated in one place, we thrive as a region.

I was reminded of that when I spoke to Taveras. I had called her to get a sense of how people in the county had responded to the site selection. “It was just so endearing to see the happiness in people,” she said.

When we talked about what the decision means for equity, she noted a saying in Spanish that translates roughly to: “There are people who eat alone.”

“They eat only for themselves, and they never share the bounty,” she said. “In order for us to lift up all boats, all people, everybody’s got to eat. Everybody needs a little bit.”

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