HUNTSVILLE — New FBI Director Kash Patel said Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal will play a key role in the Bureau’s future expansion and fight against crime.
On Wednesday, after Patel toured the Bureau’s facilities at Redstone with U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and Katie Britt (R-Montgomery), the trio paused briefly to speak to members of the press.
“The Redstone Arsenal is one of the gems in the FBI crown jewels. It truly is,” Patel said. “One of the things that we’ve been working on together is tackling violent crime across the country. But in order to do that, you need a place for people, like experts, to train. That’s right here in Redstone. You need a place for people to live in a community… That’s right here in the state of Alabama.”
Britt and Tuberville have urged Patel to relocate more agency positions to Alabama, with Tuberville calling it a “big part of the puzzle” that Patel inherited as the new director.
“We're not only looking at current threats, we're looking at what are the future threats,” Britt said Wednesday. “It is imperative that the FBI get back to doing its job, keeping Americans safe and secure.”
Patel said 500 more FBI employees will soon move to Huntsville, with more on the way.
SEE: FBI director Kash Patel sending 500 agents to Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal
“I just want to let America know, part of the move to get FBI agents and intel analysts and support staff out in the open is going to come right through Redstone Arsenal," he advised. "We’re going to put more and more here on a permanent basis from the FBI. By the end of the year, we’re going to have 500 more FBI full-time employees living, not part-time, coming here, moving here, working here, living in communities.”
With two more buildings “coming online” in 2027, Patel said Redstone had capabilities that “don’t exist anywhere else,” which he and the FBI will use to train interagency partners and international targets.
“We don’t need to rebuild it because y’all have some great senators before you that are smart enough to have the foresight to build it right here in Redstone.”
At the end of his remarks, Patel said he made Tuberville and Britt promise to take him to an Alabama vs. Auburn football game, but Patel refused to take a side.
“I’m going to sit on the 50-yard line,” he joked.
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