Unification

I have to admit I'd never thought much about the planned headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security until yesterday, when I visited the Patent and Trademark Office's campus in Alexandria. I work, as most people do, in a fairly ordinary office building (albeit one with historic provenance!) and so I've never really supposed that there were substantial alternatives. But the PTO campus is great!

The Madison building is light and airy. There's an attractive park running through the middle of the campus, with plantings, pillars that I'm told light up at night, and a fountain with what looks like a fullerne in the middle of it. The cafeteria, gym, and childcare center were all bright, attractive, and colorful. The whole place, in other words, looks like someplace you'd want to work, irrespective of whether you're a patent attorney or an intelligence analyst. It was a nice reminder of the importance of space. DHS is never going to get all of its employees in one place, but it should make its headquarters a place they want to come to, and do the best it can to have its offices around the country be attractive and comfortable. It doesn't necessarily cost more money to have red fabric than blue or gray on cafeteria booths, but I bet the impact of little changes like that on morale can be considerable.