FBI Columbia opens new field office, consolidating three previous locations

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Thursday morning, agents and officials with FBI Columbia held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of its new field office.

According to officials with the FBI, groundbreaking on the two-story 87,000 sq. ft. facility on Caughman Farm Lane in Lexington took place three years ago — with the building available for use by agents over the past few weeks.

FBI Director Christopher Wray offered insight into the numerous crimes handled by the Columbia Field Office — many he says, that were stopped before the public ever knew about them.

“In the 58 years the FBI has been here in Columbia, the agents, analysts, and professional staff have fought the illegal drug trade, violent gangs, and corruption. They’ve tackled international and domestic terrorism, child exploitation, foreign espionage, and they’ve pursued justice for victims of hate crimes, fraud, and violent crimes,” Wray says.

Assistant Special Agent in Charge with FBI Columbia Philip Tejera says the new building provides the extra space and security needed for the agency to be more operationally efficient by condensing the resources of the FBI’s previous three locations in the Columbia area.

“We absolutely have national security matters that are here that affect South Carolina. Our team, in fact, I oversee that, our team works very diligently to mitigate those threats as well as working with our law enforcement partners, but it’s not only in South Carolina. We also work with our neighboring offices as well as our national offices to mitigate threats at a national, regional, and of course, at a local level that impacts South Carolinians,” says Tejera.

According to Tejera, the building is also equipped with the latest technology and information sharing capabilities — to help them stay ahead of state and national threats.

ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams was able to tour the first floor and saw the entrance to interview rooms and polygraph rooms, video surveillance rooms where agents learn how to use electronic bugs and wiretaps, and confirmed the building has what’s called a SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility — a secure room that guards data from electronic surveillance.

The cost of the new building as well as the number of employees at the facility was undisclosed at the event.