Department of Defense officials broke ground at Fort Belvoir on Tuesday, kicking off a massive set of construction projects that will eventually accommodate thousands of new workers on the base.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA, plans to bring 8,500 workers to the installation’s Engineer Proving Ground over the next four years. The shift is part of the 2005 round of federally mandated Base Realignment and Closure adjustments and is expected to add a total 19,000 new jobs to Belvoir’s work force.

The NGA, headquartered in Bethesda, is a highly secretive intelligence agency whose mission is to collect and analyze geographic data for national security purposes. The new $1.4 billion facility at Belvoir includes 2.4 million feet of administrative and support space and will house all of the agency’s eastern operations. The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

NGA officials said the move will help accelerate new technologies by linking the agency’s research and development functions with operations and aid analysis by co-locating the NGA’s college with the staff it trains.

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As part of the move, the NGA will turn its Bethesda site back over to the Army, leave leased space in Reston and give its Washington Navy Yard facility to the General Services Administration to be included in the District’s Southeast Federal Center development.

wflook@dcexaminer.com