WASHINGTON — Two new developments Monday in this fight over the future of the FBI's new headquarters. Both Republicans and Democrats from Virginia's Congressional delegation have written a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking that the project be stopped until a review of the decision to relocate the FBI in Greenbelt, Maryland is complete.
Also Monday, the former federal executive who made that decision spoke publicly for the first time about that review of her decision.
Nina Albert is the new Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in D.C. and is at the center of the fight over the FBI's future. One of her last acts in her previous job as an executive with the federal General Services Administration was choosing Maryland over Virginia for the location of the new FBI.
The site she selected belongs to WMATA which the feds will have to buy from that agency before they can build. Albert also used to work for WMATA.
Last week, WUSA9 reported the GSA's Inspector General is "evaluating" her decision. Virginia leaders are now demanding the FBI relocation be stopped until the review is complete.
Monday, Albert said she does not know the status of that evaluation, but confirmed she has been contacted by two House committees who want answers from her.
"Obviously I'll cooperate because it's very important that the American people understand what went into that process," Albert said at a public event with her new boss D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Albert says the fight over the FBI will not affect her ability to work with regional and Congressional partners on D.C. priorities like the rehab of the RFK site.
"In my various roles I've had large portfolios and, like the Mayor says, it takes a team to get things done," Albert said. "I believe very strongly that this is not going to be a distraction to my ability to be able to lead the team and particularly to implement and move forward with the district's comeback plan."
Before the letter asking for the FBI project be put on hold, the Virginia lawmakers sent another letter last week that said they were concerned the selection process was "fouled by political interference and alleged impropriety."
That is something the FBI Director himself said about Albert's decision when he wrote to staffers about a "potential conflict of interest" she may have had because the Maryland site she selected is owned by her previous employer.
Other lawmakers are coming to Albert's defense. Last week. Maryland Democrat Glenn Ivey told WUSA9 that the way officials are questioning Albert's decision sounds like "slander" to him.
Maryland lawmakers issued the following joint statement Monday night:
“In 2022, both the Virginia Delegation, as well as the Maryland Delegation, agreed that the GSA ought to make this site selection decision ‘expeditiously,’ to ensure the hardworking men and women of the FBI would have a headquarters that would meet their vital national security mission.
“Now, the Virginia Delegation believes that the process should only move expeditiously if that decision benefits Virginia. As we have said before, we remain confident that any Inspector General evaluation will find what we know to be true: the Greenbelt site won on the merits. After assessing the facts, the GSA determined that Greenbelt offers the lowest price and best value to taxpayers, the shortest proximity to public transportation, the most schedule certainty to ensure the FBI can move to a new headquarters that meets its mission and security needs as soon as possible, and the greatest opportunity to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s equity goals.
“These processes can move in tandem and ought to – our national security and the men and women of the FBI deserve no less. The Inspector General evaluation has no bearing on the preparation of a prospectus for the new headquarters; therefore, the only thing the delay requested by the Virginia Delegation would accomplish is to subject the FBI employees and the general public to a dangerous, unhealthy environment and substantially increase the cost to the taxpayer.”
And Monday, Mayor Bowser stood up for her and said it was no surprise that in this fight for the new FBI that has dragged on for years one side was going to be upset regardless of Albert's decision.
But, critics in Virginia and at the FBI are quick to point out Albert overrode a three-person panel that said Virginia should be selected for the new HQ.