Intelligence Community Campus – Bethesda

Since 9/11, U.S. government intelligence agencies have moved toward the concept of “intelligence integration,” centralizing and improving knowledge sharing in the interest of national security. The new Intelligence Community Campus – Bethesda (ICC-B), open in 2017, is a direct response to this concept. ICC-B brings together 16 intelligence agencies under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for education, training and one-to-one exchanges of data. The new campus, located at the site of the 1940s-era National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, re-imagines imposing and outmoded buildings surrounded by surface parking into a secure, sustainable, state-of-the-art intelligence headquarters.

The project includes more than 750,000 SF of new construction and renovations on the campus. A new 220,000-SF Centrum Building is the central hub, providing auditorium, special event and reception space, an amenity gallery, executive suites and secure offices. The Centrum connects three existing buildings and the parking garage. Two buildings have been upgraded to Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection (AT/FP) requirements, including full replacement of the façades. Interiors have been entirely reconstructed to provide new working spaces and an accredited university.

Rather than creating a singular monolithic building, the project respects the history of an historic campus and creates a continuous field of light and activity, connecting all of the agencies’ critical activities to the landscape. In the words of retired Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, “The project is a new model for cyber facilities and the architecture that supports maximum inter-agency cooperation.”

LEO A DALY completed architectural design, planning and programming for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s 40-acre collaborative intelligence campus in collaboration with Whiting-Turner, URS and DBI Architects.