The Washington Post reports: The construction of a massive new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security, billed as critical for national security and the revitalization of Southeast Washington, is running more than $1.5 billion over budget, is 11 years behind schedule and may never be completed, according to planning documents and federal officials.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the George W. Bush administration called for a new, centralized headquarters to strengthen the department’s ability to coordinate the fight against terrorism and respond to natural disasters. More than 50 historic buildings would be renovated and new ones erected on the grounds of St. Elizabeths, a onetime insane asylum with a panoramic view of the District.
The entire complex was to be finished as early as this year, at a cost of less than $3 billion, according to the initial plan.
Instead, with the exception of a Coast Guard building that opened last year, the grounds remain entirely undeveloped, with the occasional deer grazing amid the vacant Gothic Revival-style structures. The budget has ballooned to $4.5 billion, with completion pushed back to 2026. [Continue reading…]
What a joke this government has become. The only thing that seems to get done, is wasting money, taxpayer money. At least from those who have employment. The police state that the U.S. has become, along with the seemingly inept so called intelligence departments, only seem to snoop on Americans, while the spy’s steal everything not nailed down. Oh, but they’re our friends, they don’t do that! The terrorists are right here at home, running free, some with the blessing[s] of the same agencies that supposedly are here to protect citizens of the U.S.A.