WASHINGTON – Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., hailed the decision by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) Thursday to approve the master plan for a consolidated headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at St. Elizabeths Hospital Campus in Southeast Washington, DC. The plan passed by a vote of 9 to 1.
“The NCPC’s final approval of a new DHS Headquarters at St. Elizabeths is terrific news,” Lieberman said. “DHS is now spread throughout 70 buildings across the National Capital Region making communication, coordination, and cooperation between DHS components a significant challenge. And DHS morale suffers for it. A unified headquarters, which would bring together many of the Department’s components into a single facility and allow employees to work more efficiently and interactively is a critical cornerstone of the efforts to improve management at the Department of Homeland Security.”
NCPC is the federal government’s central planning agency for federal land and buildings in the National Capital Region. Lieberman is a Commission member. The vote paves the way for DHS to begin construction later this year.