HUNSTVILLE, AL – During a budget hearing for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Director Kash Patel said that approximately 1,400 FBI employees would be going to Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal over the next three years.
According to AL.com, during the hearing, Patel was questioned by Rep. Dale Strong (R-Huntsville) regarding the timeline for when more FBI employees would be sent to the agency’s north Alabama location. Patel said that in order for more employees to be moved from D.C. to Huntsville, several more training facilities would need to be built at Redstone Arsenal.
Patel then said it would cost about $160 million and take over three years to complete that project. He said, “The North Campus is largely constructed and filled. The South Campus land has been leveled and the plots have been mapped out. In order to fill it, and in order to build buildings three and four and five as we call them and the new training facilities — that we and the appropriators have already looked into and approved — we’re going to need another $160 million to accomplish that.”
He added, “And once those buildings are built in the next three years, we will move another 1,300 maybe it’s 1,400 employees down to Huntsville.” The timeline discussed reaffirms Patel’s commitment to trying to send more FBI employees to Huntsville. During a recent visit to Redstone Arsenal, Patel said that “more and more” FBI agents would be sent to work at that facility.
Patel has already made an order to transfer 500 workers from D.C. to Redstone Arsenal, who according to him, should “arrive by the end of the year.” During the hearing, Strong also asked Patel about the visit and what impression it left on him. Patel said that the facility was the “premier experienced law-enforcement capability center.”
He added, “What I saw while I was there was the best example of what I see when appropriators work with the bureau to defend the nation and I wish everybody would go down to Huntsville, Alabama. It is our premier, premier experienced law-enforcement capability center and training facility that the interagency only wishes they had.”
According to ALreporter, during the hearing, Strong praised the FBI’s long-standing presence at Redstone Arsenal, noting that the facility now houses more than 2,000 personnel across 20 of the FBI’s 30 divisions. He emphasized North Alabama’s track record of supporting the Bureau’s mission and its potential for continued expansion.
He said, “Time and again North Alabama has answered the call to support the FBI with a second-to-none, state-of-the-art facility and plenty of room for cost-effective and responsible growth. We must continue to get our dedicated FBI agents into the field and out of the Beltway to protect America.”
Patel credited the location’s success to congressional foresight in establishing a footprint out side of D.C., saving taxpayers significant costs while providing critical infrastructure. Patel stressed the importance of Redstone’s interagency collaboration in training bomb technicians and staying ahead of evolving threats.
He said, “Everyone that’s qualified as a bomb technician in the FBI and the rest of the country gets that training in Huntsville, Alabama. We need these schools to exist to stay ahead of the fight.” Strong serves as the vice chair of the appropriations subcommittee that directly oversees FBI funding and operations.
