It was 35 minutes past the scheduled start time when everyone had finally made their way through the security and Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator of the General Services Administration, took the podium.

He assumed by the size of the crowd — an estimated 350 people, some of them watching on a screen in an overflow room — that there was a lot of interest in building a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “I think that bodes pretty well for this project,” he said.

Six weeks after issuing a broad search for ideas of how and where to build a consolidated headquarters for the FBI, developers, Tangherlini and his staff reiterated why they wished to swap the J. Edgar Hoover building property on Pennsylvania Avenue for a new consolidated FBI headquarters: the Hoover building is obsolete and the government has limited capital to build a replacement.

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Virginia is continuing its push to lure a new FBI headquarters.

Oldtown Alexandria Patch reports that local, state and congressional leaders met Thursday in Arlington to discuss six potential sites in Northern Virginia for the headquarters.

Patch wrote:

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who called the meeting, said leaders from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties had a “singular focus” in bringing the FBI headquarters to the Old Dominion.

“We’re all committed to finding a home for the FBI in the commonwealth of Virginia,” Moran said during a news conference following the meeting. “We are all going to promote Virginia as the best place for this relocation.”

 Mark Stephen Jimerson, a retired  FBI supervisory special agent, died last Thursday at his home in Mitchellville, Md., from a brain-related cancer. He was was 59.

In February 1985, Jimerson  was assigned to the FBI’s Tampa office, his first posting in the agency. While in Florida, he studied intensive Russian, according to information provided by the family.

He later went on to the FBI’s San Francisco office and began his career with foreign counter intelligence.

In the spring of 1995, he went to FBI Headquarters in Washington here he helped establish an FBI office in Moscow. He also served as a team leader and senior FBI agent for the first FBI delegation that provided law enforcement training in Russia, according to the family information.

He was also assigned to inter-agency taskforce investigating criminal activities involving Russian and Eastern European immigrants.

From 1997 to 2000, he served as the Assistant Legal Attaché, to the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia.

In 2000, he was promoted to Legal Attaché to Ukraine where he served within the U.S. Embassy as Chief of the Office of the Legal Attaché and as primary FBI representative in Ukraine.

In 2002, Jimerson and his family returned to their home in Maryland. He was promoted to Unit Chief of the Office of International Operations from 2005 to 2006, acted as an FBI Liaison Officer in the Office of International Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2006 to 2008, and lastly as Unit Chief in the Eurasian Unit of the Office of International Affairs, the family wrote in a release.

He retired on June 6, 2008.

Jimmerson was born on Aug.  7, 1953 in Madison, Ill., the son of Louise Jimerson and the late Chance Jimerson. He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Wendy Jimerson; his daughter, Stephania Mahdi; son, Mark E. Jimerson; granddaughter, Yasmeen Mahdi; mother, Louise Jimerson; brothers, Alvin (Zella)Valentine and Victor (JoAnn) Valentine of Madison, Illinois, Willard (Sandra) Valentine of Portland, Oregon, and Terrence Jimerson of Madison Illinois; sisters, Autumn Ann Mitchell of Redondo Beach, CA and Shirlee Sue (Larry) Coleman of Flower Mound, TX; and a host of loving nephews, nieces, family and friends.

Jimerson was the youngest of seven children. He was very active in his youth and participated in plays, choir activities, and track and field, the family said.

In high school he showed promise in his Russian language classes and was encouraged by a Bulgarian priest, teaching at his high school, to continue his studies.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army and graduated with Honors from the Defense Language Institute, serving his country as a Russian Linguist.

He was assigned to the 856th Army Security Agency and was stationed in Germany where he was a Russian Voice Interceptor, the family said.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Studies from Monterey Institute of International Studies.

 There’s one problem with the plan to buy a new headquarters for the FBI: The federal government might not be able to afford it, reports Federal Times.

Under consideration is trading the current headquarters building in Southwest Washington and swap it for another property.

“The government probably will offer the site in exchange for a new FBI building, rather than as an outright sale,” Bob Peck, former public buildings commissioner at GSA, told the Federal Times.

The current building, however, likely would be leveled to make way for something new because most developers don’t consider the headquarters to be worthy of renovation, the Federal Times reported.

A 2011 estimate by the Government Services Administration placed the cost of a new FBI headquarters at $1.5 billion, compared to $850 million to $1.1 billion to rehab the current building, which still wouldn’t meet security needs, according to the Federal Times.

Selling the current headquarters, the GAO predicts, would bring in $400 million to $600 million.

 Steve Neavling

Federal officials botched the planning of a $15 million outpost in New Mexico for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Border Patrol agents, leading to more than a year of delays, the Associated Press reports.

Customs and Border Patrol agents will continue to work out of trailers in Antelope Wells, where the outpost was expected to be completed around this time last year, according to the AP.

To blame is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which didn’t outfit the post with nearly enough power, the AP wrote.

The project languished for months even after the Corps realized more power was needed because the agency couldn’t decide how to fill out the proper paperwork get more electricity, the AP reported.

Anderson, who has been the deputy assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division at FBI headquarters has been promoted to assistant director of the division.

Anderson joined the FBI in 1995 and was assigned to the Washington Field Office, where he investigated narcotics and violent crimes. In 1997, he transferred to the Hostage Rescue Team, where he completed deployments to more than 20 countries.

In 2001, he became a supervisor in the Counterintelligence Division. As a unit chief, he oversaw the management of nuclear proliferation and espionage investigations. He supervised the Phillip Cheng investigation in the San Francisco Division, which led to the arrests of 16 people for dual-use technology transfers.

Anderson returned to the Washington Field Office in 2004, first as the supervisor of its global foreign counterintelligence squad and later as the supervisor of one of its espionage squads.

In 2007, he was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Counterespionage Branch at WFO.

He returned to headquarters in 2008 to serve as chief of the Counterespionage Section. During the next year, he led the Harold James Nicholson/Nathan Nicholson espionage investigation, which resulted in the re-arrest and prosecution of Nicholson and his son for espionage.

In 2009, he was detailed for three months in 2009 as the acting special agent in charge of the Albuquerque Division.

He returned once again to WFO in 2010 as special agent in charge of its Intelligence Division. Before joining the FBI, he was a Delaware State Trooper for nearly nine years.

Robert Allan Jones

Robert Allan Jones, who served on the Osama bin Laden unit, and eventually moved up to his latest post as FBI section chief in the Counterintelligence division at headquarters, has been named head of the FBI Indianpolis division.

Jones joined the FBI in September 1996 and was first assigned to the Kalamazoo, Mi. office.

In 2002, he was promoted to supervisory special agent in the Osama bin Laden Unit of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. He provided oversight and guidance into FBI probes in to Sunni extremism matters and was made unit chief the next year.

In 2004, he was promoted to supervisory senior resident agent in the Rochester Resident Agency of the Buffalo Division,and in 2007 was assigned to a classified, one-year tour in Balad, Iraq, with the United States Special Operations Command.

The next year, he was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Cleveland Division, and in 2009 was named the Legal Attaché in Afghanistan.

After returned to state side, he was promoted to section chief in the Counterintelligence Division.

Kevin Perkins/fbi photo

Kevin Perkins is moving up.

The veteran FBI agent has been named the agency’s associate deputy director, the number three spot at FBI headquarters. He’s  replacing Thomas J. Harrington, who is retiring.

In 2009, he was named assistant director of the bureau’s Criminal Investigative Division.

He joined the FBI in 1986 and has worked in Kansas City, Baltimore, Philadelphia and headquarters.