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On Friday, October 4, 2024, the FBI Campus in Huntsville hosted a small audience for the dedication ceremony at the Richard Shelby Center for Innovation and Advanced Training.
The audience included retired-U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, R-Ala., FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Senator Katie Boyd Britt, R-Ala., current and former-Members of Congress, four federal judges, business leaders from across the State, family and lifelong friends of Senator Shelby, and dozens of former Shelby congressional staffers – which included five of his former Chiefs of Staff.
The dedication started with all audience members boarding buses to drive through the FBI’s north campus. While on the bus, the scope of the investment secured by Shelby soon became a reality.
The full campus is much like that of a large university. The visitors were only able to see the North part of the campus. Currently, the South Campus is being expanded. It will soon host hundreds of millions of dollars in additional investment, all of which was secured before Senator Shelby’s retirement.
The FBI’s Huntsville Campus, which provides innovation and advanced training for the entire agency workforce and the world, was characterized well by FBI Director Wray, who said the campus is a “vital organ” to the entire agency.
The dedication ceremony started with remarks from Senator Katie Britt, who presided over the ceremony and did a fabulous job. You could tell by not only her words, but with her eyes, how much she admired her mentor, Senator Shelby. She mentioned that during Senator Shelby’s years in the U.S. Senate, he served as Chairman of four Committees – Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Committee on Rules and Administration, and Senate Appropriations Committee. Being chairmen of four primary committees in the U.S. Senate has never been replicated in U.S. history.
Britt also touched on Senator Shelby’s ability to make a strong deal and work in a bipartisan manner to get things done. This led to his success securing the $3 billion investment for this project. It took 14 years to secure these funds, and the resulting facility will bring nearly 5,000 jobs to Huntsville with an additional 2,500 employees anticipated to travel for training on an annual basis. This will bring an annual payroll of over $500 million per year to Alabama and the Huntsville/Madison metropolitan area. To give you some comparison, this Richard Shelby FBI facility in Huntsville will have a payroll and economic impact of two to three times what the Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa generates.
During Director Wray’s remarks, he noted that none of this would have been possible without Senator Shelby. Director Wray said that with increasing and more sophisticated threats, the innovation and advanced training center situated at Redstone will ensure the FBI’s workforce is properly trained to continue to protect the American people.
Senator Shelby provided the closing remarks. Although he is retired from office and is 90 years old, Senator Shelby spoke as strongly as he had when he represented the State of Alabama in the U.S. Capitol. Shelby noted he was humbled for the campus to bear his name, but said names go away but buildings and missions live on into the future.
This FBI Alabama compound is appropriately named the Richard Shelby Center for Innovation and Advanced Training. He singlehandedly garnered the appropriation for this magnificent complex. As Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee his last six years in the Senate, he brought home more bacon than any Senator in U.S. history brought to their home state. We Alabamians will reap the benefits of Shelby’s prowess for generations to come. Richard Shelby is unquestionably the greatest United States Senator in Alabama history.
See you next week.
