National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to a matter of national security. Over the last several months, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA, has been considering locations for its new Western headquarters. The agency, which collects and analyzes satellite maps in support of warfighters, has outgrown its current location in St. Louis.

With construction of the new NGA-West facility scheduled to begin next year, the question is: Where? There are two sites under consideration. One is in north St. Louis. The other is in St. Clair County, Illinois, next to Scott Air Force Base.

This site, which I have a chart of, is shovel ready. It is 182 acres of undeveloped land with room to expand. It is free of cost to the American taxpayers, with the county ready to hand over the deed to the NGA.

To help make their decision, the NGA enlisted the help of the Army Corps of Engineers to study the environmental impact. Unfortunately, we have found that the Army Corps of Engineers' Environmental Impact Statement is deeply flawed. The report is filled with errors, omissions, and underestimated risks. It is clear that the Army Corps did not provide an accurate accounting of the facts. The result is that the NGA announced plans last month to relocate to north St. Louis. Before that decision becomes final on June 2, I am here to set the record straight.

To the right of this chart, you will see St. Clair County, Illinois. This is the site under consideration by the NGA. However, the Army Corps of Engineers' report included data related to St. Clair County, Missouri, and St. Clair County, Michigan. One is 263 miles away from the actual site, and the other is 580 miles away from the actual site. The report also highlighted a river that isn't even in southern Illinois.

When alerted to these embarrassing errors, the Army Corps of Engineers failed to correct them. Considering that the NGA is a mapping agency, maybe they could teach the Army Corps of Engineers how to read one.

Now, let's look at the impact on mission security and public safety. Clearly, a DOD mapping agency would be a prime target for those who wish to do harm against this agency. This chart shows evacuation zones if either location were attacked by a car bomb.

You can see that St. Clair County has ample setback to protect local residents and the site itself. The north St. Louis site, obviously, does not.

We now know that security was a top criteria for placement of the new NGA. We know that force protection standards have traditionally led to colocating with existing military installations. So why are the standards being ignored for this facility?

Let's look at the facts. We have already talked about the NGA belongs in St. Clair County. We have already talked about mission security. We talked about public safety, and we saw the difference in the blast zones.

St. Clair County is the right choice for taxpayers. The Army Corps claims the St. Clair County site would be 20 percent more expensive, but they haven't even completed studies of the north St. Louis site. St. Clair County is shovel-ready now. North St. Louis is not.

Every year that we delay this, it adds $40 million to the cost to this budget. St. Clair County has been proactive and transparent with the environmental studies. North St. Louis hasn't even conducted its full analysis. The north St. Louis site has significant unknowns, including reports of hazardous waste and potential contamination from cold war era testing. How can this decision be made without answers to these very serious and health-related questions?

In terms of recruiting the next generation, Scott Air Force Base attracts the best of the best. Thousands of millennials work at Scott Air Force Base, and many already have their security clearance. Finally, St. Clair County has the roadways, railways, and infrastructure to make NGA a success. North St. Louis will need to seize land through eminent domain and then create a network we already have in place.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the NGA is making a terrible mistake that could have serious consequences. They didn't have the correct data. Before this decision is made final, the people deserve the truth. Not just the people of St. Clair County, not just the people of north St. Louis, but we, the United States citizens.

That is why I have called for a full investigation by the Inspector General's Office.

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