tedac

The FBI's Terrorist Explosive Devices Analytical Center (TEDAC) at Redstone Arsenal. (Paul Gattis/pgattis@al.com)

The FBI is looking to bring more than 4,000 jobs to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Mayor Tommy Battle said Friday.

The jobs are not a "guarantee" at this point, Battle said, but he said he was "cautiously optimistic."

The high-paying jobs would further power Huntsville's prospering economic engine, yielding an economic impact of about $40 million annually, Battle said.

The mayor also credited U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, for his diligent work bringing the project to the brink of reality.

AL.com first reported on the prospect of "hundreds, if not thousands" of FBI jobs coming to Huntsville last month.

The jobs are expected to be primarily related to FBI headquarters. The FBI is currently considering a new home for its headquarters in suburban Washington as it seeks to leave the deteriorating downtown Hoover Building.

Battle said the jobs projections were discussed during the annual Redstone Update last November at the Von Braun Center. Battle said he was in attendance when the jobs were discussed before business and community leaders.

"The report coming out of Redstone Update was that there could be a capacity of up to 4,400 jobs and it's over the next eight to 10 years," Battle said in an interview with AL.com. "It's a slow but steady buildup of FBI presence here in Huntsville. It's great news for the arsenal, great news for the city. It just diversifies our portfolio we already have at Redstone Arsenal.

"We're almost a federal campus more than we're an arsenal. We have NASA, we have Army Materiel Command, we have Army Aviation. We do 85 percent of America's missile defense agency work. Add to that the FBI presence. It gives us a continuum of service out at Redstone Arsenal and gives us a very broad, diversified group that we pull our federal tax dollars from."

Multiple sources have told AL.com that the number of jobs could be as high as 5,500. Battle said he has heard that number as well.

"We've got to give Sen. Shelby a lot of credit," Battle said. "Richard Shelby has worked very hard to make sure this happens. It is a year by year process. It's going to take a year by year budget. You see right now, budgets are changing quite a bit. The thing we've got to realize is that these are projections. But being projections, they show bright promise for us.

"You should be excited. But you also have to be cautiously optimistic on it. It does have to depend on budgets each year, the growth of the budgets and the emphasis of this budget. And it's a new day in Washington. New things are coming out. We want to be optimistic. We'd love to see all this come to fruition and we'll work to make sure that it does. But there aren't any guarantees yet and the guarantees don't come until the budget has actually passed and the moves are authorized."

It would be a windfall of jobs if the project reaches its full potential. Redstone Arsenal provides almost 42,000 jobs today.

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the FBI's Terrorist Explosive Devices Analytical Center (TEDAC) on Redstone Arsenal in February 2016, FBI Director James Comey spoke highly of Huntsville and acknowledged the prospects of bringing more jobs to the arsenal in the future.

"What we see here is an opportunity to have a center of gravity for the FBI," Comey said at the time. "The new headquarters building that we're building outside of Washington will not be big enough for the entire FBI. We're going to have to move some of our support to some good place in the United States.

"As we were discussing with (Sen. Shelby), this may be a perfect location for that kind of thing."

TEDAC ribbon cutting 2.16.16 15 Gallery: TEDAC ribbon cutting 2.16.16

An office complex would be built on Redstone Arsenal to accommodate the new jobs and the FBI said at the Redstone Update that it anticipates ultimately having a footprint of about 1,800 acres on the Army base.

The FBI is considering locations in both northern Virginia and Maryland for its new headquarters. An announcement was planned for last month That announcement was then pushed to March and, last week, postponed again with no specific date in the future.

The economic impact of the jobs on Huntsville and north Alabama, Battle said, will be significant.

"It's a huge economic impact," he said. "When we start talking about 400 jobs coming here a year for 10 years and each of those pays between $80,000 and $100,000 a year, just doing the math, it's a $40 million impact on this community each and every year and it builds on top of itself.

"The numbers add to your economy and adds to your base. And it insures that you continue to have growth and you continue to be a prosperous community."

Alabama's low cost of living and operation for businesses makes it an attractive location, Battle said.

"When you look across the board at the savings we can provide cost-of-living wise, it gives you a great argument as to why Alabama or why Huntsville," Battle said. "We are very fortunate to have the groups that we have here. We even hear reports there were 200 (FBI) jobs slotted to come here (last year) from Washington D.C. and of those 200 jobs, 198 took those jobs (and transferred from Washington). Because, quite frankly, livability wise, cost of living wise, it's much easier to be in Huntsville than it is to be in some of these other metropolitan areas."

The FBI already has a major presence on Redstone Arsenal.

TEDAC relocated from Quantico, Va., to Redstone Arsenal last year. The center brings together more than two dozen U.S. intelligence agencies into a single organization to collect, catalog, analyze, exploit and store terrorist improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

TEDAC is also undergoing a $28 million expansion with the construction of three buildings on the same campus of the original building that opened last year.

The Hazardous Devices School brings personnel from across the country to Redstone for training. All public safety bomb technicians receive training at the school. The school certifies about 200 new bomb technicians each year.

A $27.5 million expansion is also ongoing at the Hazardous Devices School on the arsenal.

The FBI announced last year that after a 45-year partnership with the Army, it was accepting primary responsibility for the Hazardous Devices School.

Battle said the FBI jobs, assuming the project is realized, will slowly transfer to Redstone.

"If it's anything like other government moves we've had, it's a trickle effect," he said. "It's a few added as we go along each month. It will be something that most people won't even recognize as it comes in because it comes in as a slow roll.

"But eventually, you will look around and say there 'Wow, there is a lot of people working for the FBI at the arsenal.'"