U.S. SENATOR KATIE BRITT SECURES COMMITMENT FROM FBI DIRECTOR TO CONTINUE GROWTH AT REDSTONE
Washington, D.C., June 1, 2023 – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) highlighted the importance of the FBI’s work at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, during a recent hearing of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations with FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Nearly 1,800 FBI employees currently work at Redstone, primarily focusing on the bureau’s cybersecurity, forensics, research, and training efforts. The FBI’s presence represents a nearly $3 billion federal investment in North Alabama. As Director Wray noted during the hearing, the number of FBI personnel stationed at Redstone is only expected to grow in the coming years.
A transcript of the exchange between Senator Britt and Director Wray follows:
BRITT: Director Wray, I understand you have visited the FBI Redstone in Huntsville on several occasions. We look forward to welcoming additional FBI employees to Huntsville as construction continues and new facilities are opened. My next question actually has two parts. First, how does FBI Redstone fit into the FBI’s broader strategic plan for the future? And second, will FBI Redstone provide capacity to foster the professional development and training of your workforce to ensure that FBI has the most highly skilled and innovative and analytical workforce out there?
WRAY: So, this is a subject I get very excited about. I’m — I’m…
BRITT: Excellent.
WRAY: … really excited about the future…
BRITT: Me too.
WRAY: … at Huntsville. We’re on track now to, I think, have 19 different FBI divisions represented there. It’s already up to about 1,800 employees. I can easily see getting to about 3,000. We — in terms of the future, I think I see a couple things. One, I view it as an innovation hub for the FBI. We’ve talked a lot already in this hearing about technology and our adversaries’ use of the technology and our need to use technology to be ahead of them, and that’s where I think the R&D efforts really is one way of short-handing it, I think would be really concentrated in Huntsville. We’re going to have a cyber-kinetic range where our cyber agents can train. An innovation hub so — so it’s both innovation and advanced training. We will always have Quantico as our basic training. All new agents and analysts.
But I expect our sort of graduate level training to be at Redstone and we’re on track for that too. The third piece I would mention is we already have a counter-IED Center of Excellence there with TEDAC which is where IEDs from all over the world are sent to do forensics on those IEDs, which then leaves to lives saved on the battlefield. So, we’re looking to grow that as well and I’ve been to visit there as you said many times, and I’m sure I will visit many more and every time I’m struck by the buzz and the hum of the activity and frankly how excited and enthusiastic all of our people and our partners are there.
BRITT: Well excellent. Thank you very much. I would be remiss if I didn’t encourage you and the FBI to continue leverage Huntsville’s highly skilled workforce and vast national security industrial base, whether it is network engineering, quantum computing, artificial intelligence or counter UAS. Huntsville has the experience and stands ready to support the FBI’s mission. Thank you.
Video of the exchange can be found here.
###
