Washington – The CIA has plans to relocate the headquarters of its domestic division, which is responsible for operations and recruitment in the United States, from the CIA’s Langley, Va., headquarters to Denver, a move designed to promote innovation, according to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials.
About $20 million has been tentatively budgeted to relocate employees of the CIA’s National Resources Division, officials said. A U.S. intelligence official said the planned move, confirmed by three other government officials, was being undertaken “for operational reasons.”
A CIA spokesman declined to comment. Other current and former intelligence officials said the Denver relocation reflects the desire of CIA Director Porter Goss to develop new ways to operate undercover, including setting up more front corporations and working more closely with established international companies.
Other CIA veterans said such a relocation would make no sense, given Denver’s distance from major corporate centers.
“Why would you go so far away?” one asked. “They will get disconnected.”
The main function of the domestic division, which has stations in many major U.S. cities, is to conduct voluntary debriefings of U.S. citizens who travel overseas for work or to visit relatives, and to recruit foreign students, diplomats and businesspeople to become CIA assets when they return to their countries.
Colorado has become a major intelligence hub since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Aurora is home to the little- known Aerospace Data Facility. Located at Buckley Air Force Base, it has become the major U.S.-based technical downlink for intelligence satellites operated by the military, the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, according to military and government documents obtained by William Arkin, author of “Code Names,” a book about secret military plans and programs.
About 70 miles south of Denver, the U.S. Northern Command, based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, is tasked with homeland defense and has been increasing its domestic intelligence work.
“I’ve always thought that Colorado is the center of intelligence,” Romanoff said. “I’m glad the feds finally realized the same.”
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer said he had heard that a branch of the CIA was moving to the region, but he had no information about where it would be located or which division would move here.
https://www.denverpost.com/2005/05/05/cia-set-to-move-unit-to-denver/