A secret government agency that helped coordinate the hunt for Osama bin Laden plans to build a new facility in the St. Louis area to replace its aging home south of downtown.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency employs 3,000 people at its site along the Mississippi River near Anheuser-Busch headquarters.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the U.S. Defense Department unit is scouting locations in the city and elsewhere in the metro region, including in Illinois. The agency also has a facility in Arnold.
Mayor Francis Slay's chief of staff says the city is fighting to keep the government agency from leaving town. The move is not expected to take place for another seven or eight years.
