Homeland Headquarters Takes Shape

The Washington Post reported this weekend on how the plans for the proposed $3 billion, 14,000 4.5 million-square foot new headquarters for the Homeland Security Department are about to get their first serious review.

I was struck by the final paragraph in the story:

[GSA spokesman Michael McGill] said Homeland Security doesn't want to build a smaller headquarters, because it needs many employees at the site in the event of a national emergency. And the four-year-old agency wants to "achieve a critical mass of people to establish a common culture," he said.

Of all agencies, wouldn't Homeland Security be the one that would want not to have all of its employees in downtown Washington in the event of an emergency? Why put all of your eggs in one basket in a city that is one of the country's biggest terrorist targets, especially when modern information technology makes it less important than ever to co-locate employees?

Homeland Security officials have said that leasing space all over town isn't cheap. And with scattered locations, employees have to spend lots of time stuck in traffic trying to get to meetings. That sounds like an argument for better leases and fewer meetings.

As for culture, if the common goal of protecting the country hasn't united the employees of various DHS agencies yet, it seems unlikely that putting them in different buildings scattered around the same campus in Washington will do the trick. But maybe the employees will get to know each other better by hanging around the barber shop and gym that are slated to be built on the site.