Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Mike Bost was joined by Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Reps. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) in authoring a letter to National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Director Robert Cardillo concerning the agency’s choice for the new NGA West facility.  The delegation highlighted security issues with the proposed North St. Louis site and questioned the accuracy of data included in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report, which improperly included findings tied to St. Clair counties in Missouri and Michigan.

“It’s mind-boggling that we could spend over $196 billion in taxpayer dollars on a key national security project based on a fundamentally flawed environmental analysis,” said Rep. Bost.  “This environmental study, which was critical to the site selection, has a blatant disregard for geographical accuracy, even going so far as to mistakenly reference St. Clair counties in Missouri and Michigan in its findings.

“Add to that the fact that the North St. Louis site may barely meets minimum Defense Department security standards for standoff distances for force protection and that questions remain regarding alleged Cold War era contamination near the site, it’s clear that deeper consideration must be given before a final site location is announced.   NGA needs to reconsider its preliminary decision and more carefully review the Scott Air Force Base location, which isn’t plagued by any of the issues attached to the North St. Louis site.”

Force protection standards for Military Construction have traditionally compelled agencies with similarly sensitive national security missions to co-locate with existing military installations or in areas without encroachment issues.

The full text of today’s letter is available here.