Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI chief, has said he wants to dismantle the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the agency’s concrete fortress headquarters in Washington, and disperse the 7,000 employees who work there to offices around the country.
Patel could well succeed in demolishing the landmark building named for the FBI’s founding director. It was opened in 1974 and is now considered obsolescent; a replacement site in Maryland has already been chosen. But many of the incoming director’s critics worry that Patel worry he may return to the practices of the Hoover era, including unauthorized surveillance operations, massive collection of personal data and harassment of dissidents, activists and perceived political enemies.
