Shielding Secrets While Adding Lounges: U.S. Spies Get Office Upgrades

Their workspaces may not have windows, but even America’s spies are joining the office sector’s flight to quality. 

Changes to federal standards for the secure spaces that hold government secrets from high-tech espionage are forcing landlords to update space, and many are using the opportunity to upgrade amenities.

The rules include provisions that have shifted, and basic amenities such as kitchens and bathrooms that were once part of the innermost ring of security are being pushed outward. The migration is leading designers to rethink their approach to the layouts of sensitive compartmented information facilities, or SCIFs.

“We are seeing a fair amount of those elements being forced out of the SCIF, and that’s making for amenity space that wasn’t there before,” said Joanna Adams DeCastro, the senior project director for interiors at DCS Design.

The Washington, D.C.-area firm is currently working on a project that includes a full-service lounge with a gym and other amenities just outside the client’s most secure space.

As America’s adversaries grow more sophisticated in their efforts to steal the country’s secrets, the federal government has enhanced building standards for SCIFs under Intelligence Community Directive 705.

The U.S. government released updates to ICD 705 in March 2025 that included significant upgrades meant to address radio frequency and electromagnetic threats. The updated construction provisions were described as the largest changes to SCIF standards in 15 years by Holland & Knight attorneys. 

Part of the new standards include hardening of radio frequency shielding through the installation of materials such as specialized foils that block radio signals from getting in or out, an expensive and comprehensive upgrade for many existing SCIFs.   

The precise number and location of SCIFs in the U.S. is classified, but a 2024 report from Polaris Market Research found that the $4.1B global SCIF market, 40% of which was based in North America, is projected to grow to $8.5B by 2034. SCIFs are used by the government and military but also by defense contractors that work with classified information.

Operators inside the opaque world of SCIF leasing and development are using space today that may not be secure enough to recertify a contract or lock in a new tenant. Some are looking at the expensive upgrades — SCIF construction frequently surpasses $500 per SF — as an opportunity to modernize spaces not just for security but also for comfort. 

SCIF as a term is more descriptive of a construction standard than a space interior. A SCIF could be an office space, warehouse, laboratory, auditorium or any other workspace. Building out a new space is as much about meeting current requirements as it is about making sure the space is positioned for a future after the contract it’s built to fulfill, said Don Ghent, a principal and technical design specialist in Gensler’s Washington office.

“There has been a lot of discussion about a lot of the existing SCIF facilities that need to be upgraded to meet the new requirements,” he said. “You spend a lot of time and effort meeting the rules. You want to make sure that you have follow-on work.”

The security hardening that it takes to build a SCIF can be accomplished in most modern office buildings, and the new standards have led occupiers and architects to reassess their approach to designing SCIF-integrated spaces.

A SCIF’s primary function is to control access and block unwanted digital connectivity, and some are designed as self-contained spaces where an employee can check in, enter a set of windowless rooms and get entirely through their workday. Electronics such as phones or smartwatches are forfeited at the door.

But the expanded security requirements include new rules around plumbing that are pushing some basic amenities like bathrooms and kitchen pantries out of the secure envelope and into the wider office space. 

That’s made the space right outside of a SCIF prime amenity space, even if it’s only to create a welcoming lounge area so the people working with classified materials can step out to check their phone and text friends, call family or simply see the sun, Adams DeCastro said.  

The push to upgrade secure spaces mirrors that of the broader office sector, where top-tier assets are attracting outsized interest as leasing activity accelerates — U.S. office vacancy dropped for the first time since 2019 in the third quarter of 2025 — and companies reposition their offices to prioritize collaboration and comfort. 

ICD 705 guidelines provide something of a baseline level of security measures, but there’s variability in requirements across government agencies and project types. In the context of an office building, a SCIF could be anything from a simple conference room to an expansive command center with massive screens and auditorium-style desk seating.

Small differences in standards across agencies mean construction on a SCIF usually doesn’t start until a contract is signed, and finding an office space to put a SCIF in is itself an opaque process with limited disclosure.

“When you're negotiating space that will include a SCIF, you have to be very vague,” said Anna Shaffer, a managing director in JLL’s Washington office with a specialty of working with government contractors. “We typically do not even use that word in a lease, but both parties understand what the space is going to be used for.”

With high price tags and long build-out times, private firms typically search for space and contract approval in tandem, Shaffer said. 

“You basically work with your broker to negotiate terms on a space — have a fully negotiated lease — and then once you know that you've won the award, then you execute,” she said.

Even still, the expensive price of entry is prohibitive for some smaller operators.

Lead times between award date and contract starts vary, and the security of the space is verified and accredited by the government before workers start to trickle in. Federal agencies do their best to offer reasonable construction timelines, but hitting the deadline can sometimes be challenging for tenants.  

That’s provided a boost to a small but growing speculative SCIF construction sector. One landlord in Northern Virginia has built its brand around serving contractors that need secure space, Shaffer said, while declining to name the firm. 

“They've made a good business of it. They understand the secret communications that need to come in and out of those buildings, and they are essentially fully leased at all times,” she said. “There are landlords that are better at it than others, and that’s a big part of their business.”

Demand for SCIFs that meet today’s requirements, along with the rollover of existing secure space that has to be upgraded, has also kick-started a nascent classified coworking and SCIFs-as-a-service sector, Ghent said. 

Nooks, a coworking provider for classified work, launched in 2021 and has one office near Washington, D.C., another in Colorado, and is building a third in California. It has at least three more locations planned across the country and was selected in December as one of the space providers for a multibillion-dollar Department of Defense contract. 

“That has become, even for Washington, a new thing. There are shared SCIF spaces out in Virginia that the community knows are available — if you need a space you can rent one,” Ghent said. 

The U.S. capital is well stocked with secure space, but classified work is happening all around the country, and Ghent expects to see more speculative SCIF construction and shared classified workspaces in major hubs for government working, including cities in Florida, Texas and Georgia.  

“It's an interesting moment. Outside of Washington, there is much more of a need for secure space than there used to be,” he said.