September 10, 2009 - 4:59am
WFED's Max Cacas | |
Now scattered through 35 buildings in the Washington area, the Department of Homeland Security is one step closer to the goal of a "unified campus" on the grounds of the old St. Elizabeth's hospital in Southeast D.C. | |
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The Department of Homeland Security is one step closer to the goal of a "unified campus" on the west campus of the now-defunct St. Elizabeth's federal mental hospital.
On Wednesday, DHS officials gathered under a tent along with the General Services Administration, which is supervising a decade-long project to renovate the campus and many of its historic buildings into a modern, secure headquarters complex for the agency,
Although construction has been underway for sometime now, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says this is the right time for this groundbreaking:
How appropriate that it occur on the week of the anniversary of September 11th. That attack on our homeland was the genesis of the recognition by Congress that we needed a Department of Homeland Security.
Construction is currently underway on the first building in the DHS campus: a new headquarters for the U.S. Coast Guard, to replace the service's aging building across the Anacostia River near Nationals Park.
Napolitano says they've been able to speed up development of the Coast Guard headquarters building thanks to a $650 million dollar boost from the recent economic stimulus bill.
The new DHS headquarters complex is the biggest federal construction project since the Pentagon was built just prior to World War Two.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (ID-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told the assembled guests how President Franklin Roosevelt intended to have the Pentagon serve as a unifying headquarters for the military branches spread out all over Washington. Lieberman noted with irony that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon was held on September 11th, 1941 -- 60 years before armed terrorists flew an American Airlines jetliner into the southwest wing of the building.
Paul Prouty, acting administrator of the GSA, says the new DHS headquarters will serve as a world-class showcase for historical preservation, and at the same time, for energy efficiency.
D.C. City Councilman Marion Barry, whose Ward 8 encompasses the new DHS facility, praised DHS and GSA officials for choosing to keep the agency's headquarters in Washington, at a time when it might have been easier to build outside the Nation's Capital. He says the new DHS headquarters will mean jobs, stores and businesses, and a potential to improve the lives of his constituents.
The new Coast Guard headquarters is expected to open sometime in 2013.
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On the Web:
DHS - DHS and GSA Participate in Joint Groundbreaking Ceremony for Consolidated DHS Headquarters (press release)
Federal News Radio - St. Elizabeth campus not big enough for DHS
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