STATEMENT OF THE ALEXANDRIA DELEGATION IN REGARD TO FUNDS FOR THE C. I. A. BUILDING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP63T00245R000100170073-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 73
• Publication Date: January 1, 2000
• Content Type: STATEMENT

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Statement of the Alexandria Delegation
In Regard to Funds for the C.I.A. Building
To The Honorable Dennis M, Chavez
and Members of the Senate Appropriations Sub-~Committe?
Gentlemen:
We appear before you today in the interest of the City of
Alexandria with regard to having the C.I.A. building located in our
City. I am Ira F,, Willard, City Manager of Alexandria, Virginia,
and I will be the spokesman for the Alexandria delegation, which is
composed of Vice Mayor Joseph P'1, Pancoast; Councilman James Mo
Duncan, Jr.; and Mr, David S. Haddock representing the Alexandria
Chamber of Commerce, The Mayor of the City of Alexandria would have
been present but prior c cmmitments made it impossible for him to
attend, but he is vitally interested in this project.
Several months ao word was received in the City of Alexan-
dria that the C.I.A. was looking for a site on which to locate a
new building, which is the topic of this meeting this morning,
Articles appeared in the newspapers indicating that their first
interest had been in a site at Langley, Virginia, and that the
citizens of that area had objected to locating the building there.
Realizing that the City of Alexandria had many advantages to
offer, a delegation called upon the authorities of the Central
Intelligence Agency at which time they were greeted with this
statement from the C.I.A. officials: "We are glad that somebody
wants us," Since that time the position of the City of Alexandria
25 YEAR RE-REVIF\AII
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Statement of Alexandria Delegation
has not changed. We do not know whether the position of the other
parties in interest to this matter has changed or not. We hope
that it has not.
When our delegation explained to the C.I.A, officials what
advantages we had), they were interested and requested that no infor.
mation be made public as to this matter due to the highly secret
nature of the operations of that Agency. Out of deference to their
request all meetings, conferences and official acts of the City of
Alexandria had not been made public and no official statement has
heretofore been made by any official of the City of Alexandria.
We would still continue to respect the request of the Central
Intelligence Agency were it not for the fact that we feel at this
time that the case of the City of Alexandria should be publicly
presented for the benefit of this Committee. So with your kind
indulgence I would like to briefly review the advantages which we
consider the City of Alexandria has to offer for the location of
the building in our City.
I would like to show you a map of the Metropolitan Area
which shows both sites -- Langley and Alexandria. You can see from
this map that the Alexandria site is six (6) miles distant from the
White House and four (Li) miles distant from the Pentagon Building),
whereas the Langley site is seven (7) miles distant from the White
House and seven and a half (7-1/2) miles distant from the Pentagon.
Mr. Dulles stated before the Committee that the distance of the
proposed building should be within 10 or 15 minutes from the White
House. Ho later stated that the volume of business which the
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Statement of Alexandria Delegation
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Agency conducted with the Pentagon was two or three times greater
than that conducted with others. In either event, the Alexandria
site more than meats the specifications so far as distance is
concerned.
The Alexandria site also has an adequate road not extending
in all directions; bus transportation is available through an exist-
ing transit company which is amply equipped to serve this area;
adequate power lines are available; water mains are already in
existence which will servo this area; a trunk sower is already in
existence and another trunk sower is being oDmploted into the site
connecting with a $9,000,000 sewage treatment plant which will go
into operation in the City in July 1956; a now telephone exchange
building is being completed by the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone
Company to expand the service in this area; now housing facilities
for the employees of the Agency, constructed within the last five
(5) years, includes 8300 apartments within 5 minutes of the Alexan-
dria site which rent from x,;565.00 to $125.00 a month. There is also
now housing which includes 3700 houses within 15 minutes of the site,
and at present 300 more are under construction. Extensive, older
housing is available for sale or rent in Alexandria and adjacent
Fairfax County. Adequate public and private schools are available
for all of this housing, and already the City of Alexandria has.
projected additional school buildings in undeveloped land of the
City in anticipation of further development of the City. Within 500
yards of the proposed site is anow high school which has cost in
excess of 42,000,000, and is one of the most modern high school
plants in the United States.
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Statement of Alexandria Delegation
In connection with accessibility it is important to note
that the Alexandria site is on the Shirley Highway and traffic to
and from the site during rush hours will run countorwiso to the
prevailing heavy traffic into and out of Washington..
I do not wish to deprecate tho Langley sito to the Committee,,
but the statement which I want to make is merely for the purpose of
comparing the two sitos. At Langley there are no roads of fair
capacity; bus transportation is inadequate; no power, water or
sewage services are availablo; no sizable telephone facilities are
in existence and none planned to my knowledge; and there is no com-
parable housing available in this area as indicated by the rural
nature of this area on the map, and due to the rural character of
this Langley site it is reasonable to expect that few, if any, school
facilities are available.
The cost of locating the site in Alexandria is nominal com-
pared to a cost running into millions for providing access roads,
utilities and facilities which will be required before this pro-
posed building at Langley could be used. With this in mind it is
hoped that the Committee will appropriate the money needed for build-
ing the structure at once and that the structure be located in
Alexandria whore all things needed for this building arc already in
existence.
Now, gentlemen, we have wanted the building from the very
beginning, and we still want this building. There has boon no word
of official objection to the location of such a building in
Alexandria and, to my knowledge, no unofficial objection has boon
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Statement of Alexandria J_ Delegation
made to the location of the building in the City of Alexandria,&
The reason for this, 1 believe, is that the site which we propose:
is, entirely adapted to the use for which theland will be put and
no citizen of the City or any other place will be inconvenienced
as the result of the building being located there.
Contrarily, numerous complaints: and objections have been
registered by the McLean-Langley residents in connection with the
location of the building at Langley. I am sure that the members of
the Committee are acquainted with these objections beeauso they have
been made for a long time and are still continuing to be made.
(Comment re open letter published by McLean
Citizens Association)
It is the hope of the City of Alexandria that the Committee
will give favorable consideration to the many advantages which the
City of Alexandria offers for the location of the building in this
City, and that such will be the recommendation of the Committee for
final adoption by the Congress.
In summary, lot me quote testimony of Mr. Dulles before the
House Appropriations Subcommittee as follows: "We would be rather
handicapped, for example, if the authorization mere only for what
we expect to expend next year. If we had the funds in hand for the
building. we could proceed with assurance.'t Point numberl, thoreforw,
is that C.I.A. needs their building now, for a variety of reasons
which Mr. Dulles gave to the H ouse Subcommittee, and he desires
that all funds required for the building be aapIlropriated at this
time. Point number 2 Because of distance to the White House and
Pentagon, it appears that a site in Maryland would be unsuitable.
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Statement of Alexandria Delegation
Point Number 3: The Langley site appears unsuited for further
consideration bec-cruse it is uneconomical, booauso of the lack of
site facilities at Langley, and because of the strong opposition
of local residents in the area. Point Number -: The Aloxandria
site is entirely sui table and is available for immadia.to eommonconent
of construction, if funds for the land and building are fully
appropriated at thisSession of the Congress. Point Number 5: There,
does not appear to be any compelling reason why the authorization
of $8,5oo,ooO for the George Washington Memorial Parkway should not
be eliminated from the appropriation, and no reason appears why the
pro.sont Congress should not appropriate the full amount for the land
and the, building in order that construction could be begun imwdiatoly
for the C. T. A. in the Alexandria area,
Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your courteous consideration
in this matter,
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