The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the advisory task force led by Elon Musk, briefly listed a complex that allegedly houses a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) facility in Virginia as "for sale" this week.
Newsweek reached out to the CIA for comment via their online contact form.
Why It Matters
Trump signed an executive order establishing DOGE on his first day back in the White House tasking it with "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."
While conservatives praise DOGE as a means to cut what they view as waste in the federal government, critics have argued these cuts will diminish critical services for Americans and have raised concerns that the young engineers working on federal cuts lack relevant experience.
What to Know
The Trump administration briefly published a list of 440 properties it planned to sell that were viewed as "not core to government operations" on Tuesday. It took down the list by Wednesday morning," reported the Associated Press.
Wired and Bloomberg both reported that a massive storage complex in Springfield, Virginia, with ties to the CIA was included on the list. Wired noted that while the specific building long believed to be a CIA facility was not on the list, the potential sale of the rest of the complex would spark concerns due to the proximity of the alleged facility.
While the agency has never confirmed the building belongs to it, there have been several reports over the years that tied it to the complex.
The Washington Business Journal in 2012 described the CIA's presence at the facility as the "worst-kept secret in Springfield."
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Several buildings on the list were part of the Parr-Franconia Warehouse Complex in Springfield, Wired reported. The facility was built in 1952 and offers the General Services Administration (GSA) more than a million square feet of storage. It also listed a building that is part of the complex that is long believed to have ties to the CIA, according to the publication.
In 2012, the Business Journal first reported that it was an open secret that the CIA had a presence in the facility.
Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity told the publication at the time that there was a "three-letter agency that is at the site," without specifically saying it was the CIA.
Local officials have wanted to redevelop the property and once floated it as a potential location for Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) facilities, but those plans were complicated by the already-existing facility in the complex, according to the Business Journal.
A 1990s appraisal showed the building was occupied by eight federal agencies, including the CIA, according to the Business Journal.
What the building may be used for remains more secretive.
In 2011, NPR published an excerpt of the book Fallout: The True Story of the CIA's Secret War on Nuclear Trafficking, penned by Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz, that acknowledged the CIA had a "secret facility in Springfield, Virginia."
"In a warehouse-like building there, the CIA trains a cadre of technical officers to bug offices, break into houses, and penetrate computer systems," the book reads.
It's not known publicly whether the facility is still used for training.
Claims spread across social media that the facility may have been used as a "black site," but there is no evidence to back up that claim. Evidence suggests that CIA black sites have not existed on U.S. soil.
"There are no CIA 'black sites' in the US. That's a clickbait term, not reality. Some IC agencies have facilities in the US which don't have the agency name or logo advertised. That's basic cover, perfectly normal and legal," counterintelligence expert John Schindler wrote in a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.
What People Are Saying
Michael Shurkin, director of global programs at 14N Strategies, on X: "Why doesn't CIA want everyone to know that every CIA building is CIA? Precisely because people's imaginations run wild. Or sit outside and photograph people going in and out. And sometimes commit terrorist attacks."
Jeff McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to Wired: "Normally a site like this wouldn't be outed, so to speak, but everyone knows it's here except, apparently, the people who put this list together."
What Happens Next
It's unclear whether any of the facilities in the complex will end up being sold. The list is expected to be republished at some point.