Inside NSF’s ‘Depressing’ New Headquarters

Staff at the National Science Foundation’s new Alexandria headquarters say unreliable Wi-Fi, poor cell phone reception, and a shortage of meeting rooms are making their jobs more difficult and negatively affecting morale.

“It’s like a bunker,” said one NSF staff member, noting that cell-phone reception in the building is so bad in some areas that staff have been advised to use walkie-talkies in emergencies.

NSF, which Congress funded at $8.75 billion in fiscal year 2026, is currently undergoing a leadership transition, and has lost nearly a third of its staff since December 2024. Multiple agency employees, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told FYI that the agency’s new building, part of the US Patent and Trademark Office campus, is a major downgrade from their nearby former headquarters, which was custom-built for the agency in 2017. That building had large, bright open spaces, a gym, and on-site parking, as well as well-equipped meeting rooms designed to host expert grant review panels, advisory committees, and visiting researchers.

“Especially compared to what we had, this is a depressing building to be in,” one employee said of the agency’s new headquarters. Another employee echoed this sentiment, describing multiple windowless offices in the interior of the building, dated decor, and Wi-Fi so unreliable that they prefer to take important videoconferences from home rather than come into the office and risk having the internet drop out. Agency staff told FYI that NSF has hosted most of its meetings with external guests virtually since the move, and while officially staff are supposed to work from the office full time, this is at individual manager’s discretion. “It looks unprofessional, to be honest,” said the employee of the building’s internet issues, noting instances when colleagues hosting online review panels have had to turn off their video to mitigate internet bandwidth issues. “When we’re trying to engage in reviews and engage in what the community really thinks about certain ideas, not being able to show your face or be present is a huge challenge,” they said.

An NSF spokesperson told FYI that the agency recently completed major cabling upgrades to improve internet connectivity for staff working in the building, and said staff are able to host or join video conference calls from there.

Asked whether it is accurate that walkie-talkies are used in the building because of poor cell phone service, the NSF spokesperson said: “Two-way radios have been placed on each floor as a safety measure for contacting NSF Personnel Security Offices during emergencies.” The spokesperson added that NSF “continues to work on upgrading the network to bolster quality of service.”

NSF vacated its former headquarters across from the Eisenhower Avenue Metro Station in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 17, 2026, and began moving into the new headquarters in May. The move was staggered, with many staff continuing to work remotely over the summer. The new headquarters, known as the Randolph Building, is a short walk from the old NSF headquarters.

The decision to move NSF came abruptly in June 2025, when the Trump administration announced the agency’s Eisenhower Avenue headquarters would become the new home of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Democrats on the House Science Committee criticized the decision at the time, questioning the administration’s claim that the move would save hundreds of millions of dollars and describing the decision as “wasteful and disrespectful” to NSF employees in a letter to General Services Administration leadership.

NSF did not respond to questions about how much it has spent on IT and communications upgrades to its new building, but the agency has put out procurement notices detailing extensive work. USPTO described the Wi-Fi hardware on its campus as being at “end of life” in 2022, but it is unclear if planned upgrades were completed on the Randolph Building before the building was put up for lease in 2024.

Though the NSF employees who spoke to FYI universally praised the hard work of building, IT, and security staff who have tried to ease the agency’s transition into the new location, they also said they feel there is still a long way to go to make the building work for the agency. Staff said they have been told that more conference space will be opened up on the first floor, and it will be possible to reserve meeting spaces on the USPTO campus, but this work has not yet been completed.

“The move has definitely been disruptive,” one NSF employee said. “We’re still trying to figure out how to work well together in the new space.”