RESTON MYSTERY: IS THE CIA PLANNING TO SET UP SHOP DOWNTOWN?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880034-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: September 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880034-9
ARTICLE AP ARED
ON PAGE AR
WASHINGTON POST
12 September 1986
Reston Mystery: Is th
e CI
APlanning
STAT
to het Up Shop Downtown?
By Leah Y. Latimer
Washington Pont Staff Writer
Federal government plans to set up an operation in
the heart of Reston's planned urban center have drawn
the community into a mystery that possibly involves the
nation's top-secret, intelligence-gathering agency.
In a community that prides itself on its openness and
diversity, the mystery began with a simple request this
summer to the town's planning commission: The
planned occupant of the Reston Corporate Center, a
2,509-square-foot office building complex on a five-acre
tract, needed to erect a seven-foot-high brick fence for
security reasons.
Since then, the request has grown into a debate
shrouded by'secrecy so thick that Fairfax County offi-
cials-are not sure what they're arguing about or whom
they're dealing with. Some say the Central Intelligence
A "'ncy is involved; the agency will not comment.
STAT'he whole thing is nebulous," Fairfax County Board
Vice Chairman Martha V. Pennino said yesterday. "You
can't really get your hands on this thing."
Residents who have learned about the plan argue
that erecting any kind of wall around the complex would
choke off an important portion of a town where many
residents find it easy to walk to work, schools and shop-
ping.
"It's at odds with Reston's concept of what Reston
should be," said Janet Howell of the Reston Community
Association. "We don't fence ourselves in."
Others wonder why a group that is proposing tight
security would plan to set up shop adjacent to the Res-
ton Town Center, an office, retail and entertainment
complex that is expected eventually to become a busy
downtown core.
"That kind of activity, development would be very
pedestrian-oriented, where people would want to move
between buldings, through the site," said Joseph Stow-
ers, cochairman of the Reston planning and zoning com-
mittee.
The mystery grew more intense this week, when
Pennino held a meeting to discuss the proposed wall.
During a 90-minute discussion Wednesday, Pennino
said two "unnamed federal representatives" told her
they planned to conduct activities of a "sensitive, top-
secret nature" in the complex on Sunset Hills Road.
"They said what they want is a secure facility," Pen-
nino recalled in an interview yesterday. She said the
discussion included the following exchange:
"Why not put [the facility) in Langley?" Pennino said,
alluding to the CIA headquarters.
"We really don't have enough space over there," one
of the federal representatives said.
In an interview yesterday, Stowers said he is sure the
CIA is moving into the complex. He was present at the
meeting, along with officials from the company that
owns the complex, a member of the Reston Land Corp.
and a county planning staff member.
"The conversation focused very freely over what the
CIA's requirements were: location, visibility and com-
munication," Stowers said.
But Pennino was more cautious. "Never once did
they disclose what agency they were from," she said.
"Stowers was the only one who used the term CIA."
The Connection, a Reston newspaper, reported this
summer that the CIA will lease all of the office space at
Reston Corporate Center and has an option on two
buildings that are to be added to the office park.
A CIA spokesman yesterday declined to comment on
the matter. "We really don't talk
about where our offices are," said
Kathy Pherson.
Officials from the development
company that owns the new brick
and glass mid-rise buildings de-
clined to provide any information on
possible tenants. "We would not
ordinarily disclose information
about any customer we do business
with with the press," said Barry
Fitzpatrick, an official of the Rock-
ville-based firm Mulligan-Griffin &
Associates.
Pennino said the federal officials,
contacted through the development
firm, promised to consider her sug-
gestion that a wall similar to the
cast iron fence and relatively low
cement barriers around the White
House be erected instead.
The CIA is enlarging its McLean
headquarters with the construction
of a $100 million building adjacent
to the main building built in 1963. It
will house an additional 3,000 CIA
employes.
Reston, part of a stretch of Fair-
fax that has attracted many high-
tech businesses to the area, already
has its share of super-secret activ-
ities, according to Pennino.
"We have buildings all over Fair-
fax County that have top-secret
clearance activities," she said. "Who
knows what all these companies are
doing?"
Continued
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Reston Ofcials also are con-
cerned about a proposal to expand a
federal microwave communications
tower operated by the federal gov-
ernment two miles away from the
office complex. That plan was dis-
cussed briefly during the meeting
this week, Pennino said.
Pennino said the owners of the
Reston Corporate Center do not
need government, approval to erect
the fence because of current zon-
ing. However, expansion of the tow-
er would have to be approved by
the County Board of Supervisors,
she said.
"They tried to play on my patri-
otism," Pennino said, recounting
the meeting with the federal rep-
resentatives. She said they spoke of
national security in an age of inter-
national unrest in explaining their
need for expansion in Reston.
"That's a lot of hogwash," she de-
clared. "There are a lot of other
places where they can beam their
essages."
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