FBI plans to move some data-center, administrative jobs to Idaho

The FBI plans to move 2,300 jobs out of the Washington, D.C., area, including some to Pocatello.

The agency said Monday that it intends to move the jobs to three facilities around the country, including a data center the agency is already building in Pocatello. Data-center and administrative jobs will be sent to the Idaho location, the Washington Post reported.

The Post reported that the proposal is part of what the General Services Administration, which oversees federal buildings, calls a “nationally focused consolidation plan.” It reverses the agency’s push during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations to consolidate 11,000 workers in a modern, secure center in suburban Washington.

How many jobs would go to Pocatello? That wasn’t immediately known. An FBI spokeswoman in Salt Lake City referred the Statesman’s questions to another FBI representative who was not immediately available.

The FBI has had a technical center in Pocatello for years. Its new building represents an expansion there. In a groundbreaking ceremony last October, federal officials said the agency was consolidating about 100 data centers into two — in Pocatello and West Virginia, according to the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello. Officials said then that 350 jobs would be created.

The other jobs to be moved from Washington, D.C., would go to Alabama and West Virginia.

This story was originally published February 12, 2018 at 6:10 PM with the headline "FBI plans to move some data-center, administrative jobs to Idaho."