Category Archives: Field Notes

The following are the notes that I wrote down during my visits to the FBI headquarter building and the surrounding areas.

Alejandro Castro Macias

Notes over the FBI Headquarters

FBI Headquarters: November 26th 4pm-6pm (roughly)

• Very bland building
• Looks very under the radar
• Small glimpses of the interior
• Small glimpses of courtyard/training. What is the purpose of this? Intentionally shown to the public?
• Lots of security
• People leaving and entering quite frequently
• None of them wanted to talk to me 🙁
• They said they were in a hurry or could not tell me anything that was interesting
• Across the street from the department of justice
• Very busy
• So many police cars next to the area
• The guards with the drug dogs didn’t let me take a picture of them
• No tours
• Can’t get in
• Windows were tinted
• Inside the entrance there is a lot of security.
• Security guards and then card security
• Very hard to schedule a visit
• Nice views
• Department of Justice
• Outside of the Federal Triangle Heritage Trail
• Office of the Attorney general close by
• Close to national mall
• National Archives
• Once you start walking a block away it becomes very easy to be trapped within the “downtown touristy area”
• Very business oriented. The people that were walking around were in a rush, in suits, or looking like they were in a rush
• Once I got to the national archives the demographics were 50/50 business and tourists. Also it was a weekday around 3pm-6pm, thus more business people.
• Interesting to note that once I made it back to the FBI building, I almost did not recognize the building with how bland it was.
• Seeing it from the national archives you can see the navy memorial and a very cool circular area.
• The building seems to be at the center of a business district that is surrounded on both sides by tourist areas
• Roosevelt stone
• Stopped by the national portrait gallery
• Close to Chinatown
• Interesting juxtaposition

November 30th 2pm-4pm roughly

• Less movement than last time
• A lot of people coming in and out of the building
• Noticing a lot more wealth, no flashy cars but black SUVs dropping people off and picking them up
• It is very cold today yet tourists are still walking around areas surrounding the FBI building
• Some movement leaving the restaurants- they appear to be coming out of lunch meetings
• A lot more tourists than working people this time around

December 8th – noon

• Spent more time in the surrounding areas
• Lots of tourists
• Holiday decorations are beginning to come up in full effect.
• No employees
• The immediate area of the FBI building was very empty
• More tourists in the outskirts – by the museums
• A lot less noise
• So many tourists that the FBI building sort of gets lost- no one seems to care for it or they do not seem to notice what it is.