Alabama Joins FBI Headquarters Sweepstakes

As Moore Throws Shade on Youngkin, Alabama Seeks More FBI Dollars

Maryland Governor Wes Moore threw shade at Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in the two states’ FBI headquarters location contest a week ago. 

Moore told WTOP radio: “From my understanding, I’m the only chief executive of the two states that actually says, ‘I believe in the mission of the FBI and I don’t believe it should be defunded’ — the only one.” [i]  The comment came in the context of criticism of the FBI’s investigation into former President Trump’s handling of sensitive government documents. [ii]

While engaging in his personal attacks on Youngkin, Moore may have missed another competitor for the FBI headquarters and continued obstacles to funding. Multiple news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, report that a leading House Republican is promoting locating the headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama. The move is intended by advocates to take Washington politics out of the FBI.  

Congressional appropriators have already lavished FBI spending on Alabama, which topped more than $3 billion as of last year.[iii]  With Republican Sen. Richard Shelby's support, in the FY 2022 spending bill alone, Congress approved $570 million for FBI construction at Redstone Arsenal in the state.[iv]

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Oh.) plans to push a rider to an appropriations bill that would strip funding from the FBI unless it relocates its headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama, the Wall Street Journal reports. [v]

Previous news accounts in June suggested that still, other House Republicans had begun coalescing around a plan to eliminate funding for the headquarters. At the time, the Wall Street Journal quoted Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee: “It sends a message to the FBI that they have to act more responsibly if they want us to spend over a billion dollars, way over a billion dollars.” [vi]  Harris had also opposed funding in 2017 for the new FBI headquarters when advocates had failed to find a method to offset the spending. [vii]

The FBI has already compared its Alabama presence to Amazon’s HQ2. “We really look at it like a HQ2, a backup for the footprint that we have here in Washington, D.C.,” said  Paul Abbate, associate deputy director at the FBI, to CNBC. “It’s really the future of the FBI, and it’s all about technology, innovation, talent, and resiliency.”[viii]

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[i] https://dmvdownload.wtop.com/episode/why-md-gov-moore-says-the-fbi-headquarters-shouldnt-be-in-va/

[ii] https://www.marylandmatters.org/2023/07/03/moore-takes-aim-at-virginia-governor-over-fbi-hq-sweepstakes/

[iii] https://www.al.com/news/2023/01/fbi-spending-to-top-3-billion-at-redstone-arsenal.html

[iv] https://www.al.com/news/2022/03/fbi-investment-in-huntsville-tops-24-billion-sen-richard-shelby-says.html

[v] https://www.wsj.com/articles/republican-eyes-sweet-home-for-new-fbi-headquarters-in-alabama-479b19d8

[vi] https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-allies-take-out-anger-on-fbi-headquarters-project-6aa91cd3

[vii] https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-harris-fbi-funding-20170714-story.html

[viii] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/14/rockets-and-intelligence-the-fbi-is-building-a-1-billion-campus-in-huntsville-alabama.html