FOX5: Inspector General launches investigation into decision to move FBI headquarters to Maryland

FOX5, JILLIAN SMITH

The U.S. General Services Administration says it is launching an investigation into concerns about the selection of Maryland as the site for the FBI’s new headquarters after Director Christopher Wray suggested that the decision process may have been unfairly influenced. 

GSA Acting Inspector General Robert Erickson announced the investigation Thursday in response to a Nov. 15 letter signed by nearly a dozen Virginia congressional leaders stating that the site selection process had been “fouled by political considerations and alleged impropriety.” 

The letter was signed by Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-Va.), and Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), and Rob Wittman (R-Va.). 

The Virginia lawmakers allege that after receiving pressure from representatives for Greenbelt, Md. — the site selected for the new headquarters — the GSA began making changes to the site selection criteria and scoring rules.