Marines train in security procedures at Fort Pickett which is being considered by the State Department as a training site for security personnel.The U.S. State Department is considering Fort Pickett and neighboring Pickett Park in Nottoway County for a Foreign Affairs Security Training Center that could bring up to 1,000 jobs.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday that the State Department chose the site over 40 others in the Washington area and has started a years-long evaluation to determine whether the property is suitable for the project.

The center would be used to train federal government staff posted at American embassies, as well as some foreign security personnel.

Foreign affairs security personnel train at 19 locations nationwide. The training functions from those facilities would be consolidated at Fort Pickett.

John N. Prosise, the assistant county administrator in Nottoway, said he began conversations about the land 15 months ago with the U.S. General Services Administration and State Department.

The agencies are interested in using several hundred acres of Pickett Park, a roughly 3,600-acre business and industrial area that the county assumed ownership of after the 1995 round of base realignments and closures. The land was carved off of Fort Pickett and currently houses a Virginia Tech agricultural research center and the Blackstone Army Airfield, among other things.

Prosise said the county's Board of Supervisors has been supportive of this project, "just like they have been in support of things military since Pickett came here in 1942."

The community also has backed its connection to the military since World War II, he said, and "I feel sure they'll feel the same about this. I would hope the support would be there."

The two-year site investigation includes identifying potential effects on the natural, social and cultural environment, and is supposed to include "a robust and transparent public engagement process to answer questions from citizens and address any possible concerns about the project," the governor's office said.

Construction on the site could generate more than 300 jobs, with longer-term permanent part-time and full-time jobs ranging from 850 to 1,000, according to State Department figures.

"We welcome this news that would help enhance our national security and could bring hundreds of much-needed jobs to Nottoway County and the surrounding region," McDonnell said.

"The commonwealth will work closely with the community, the Virginia Department of Military Affairs and the Department of State to support the environmental impact statement and address the needs of residents in this area."

The State Department and General Services Administration will make the final decision.

from the Richmond Times-Dispatch

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