This story appears as part of a collaboration to strengthen investigative journalism in Maine between the BDN and The Maine Monitor. Read more about the partnership.
Last year, the internal affairs office for U.S. Customs and Border Protection quietly moved from its previous space at the Bangor International Airport to a nondescript, unmarked office space in a building on Farm Road in Bangor owned by Dana White, president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a prominent booster of President Donald Trump.
The federal agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility is tasked with maintaining the internal security of Customs and Border Protection, a mandate that includes conducting employee background checks and investigating allegations of crimes or misconduct by employees. That misconduct could include providing aid to smuggling efforts by foreign governments and criminal organizations.
The Bangor office appears to be the only one in Maine, according to a 2024 Customs and Border Protection report that listed 26 Office of Professional Responsibility field offices around the country. The organization is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Nationwide, the office opened 880 cases in 2023, according to the report.
The office also investigates deaths of people in Customs and Border Protection custody. For example, the Office of Professional Responsibility investigated the January killing of Alex Pretti by agents in Minneapolis but was reportedly denied access to some evidence by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of Customs and Border Protection.
The Office of Professional Responsibility’s Bangor location is now housed in a building complex that also contains Beal University, Beal Driving Academy and Fields4Kids, which rents out indoor fields for parties and events. There are no signs naming the office at either of its apparent entrances, which are under the watch of security cameras. A sign near one door warns that trespassers can be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The Maine Monitor began looking at the location after learning the federal government was leasing the space. A database of federal leases maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration showed the federal government began a 10-year lease of the space in May 2025, at a cost of $244,701 a year. But the database didn’t say which government agency was leasing it, and a General Services Administration spokesperson declined to name the agency involved.
Construction plans submitted to the city of Bangor in 2024 as part of a construction permit application show the space was designed with some ballistic-rated doors and walls, a room labeled “detainee,” and another room labeled “interview” with a handcuff bar and a one-way glass observation window.
Designed by engineering firm Haley Ward, the plans also show rooms for weapons storage, weapons cleaning, secure equipment, secure evidence and secure files. In addition to offices, one room is labeled “grand jury.” Another, “lactation.”
A permit application filed with the city described the building as the “Bangor OPR office,” but it was unclear to which federal agency the acronym referred.
Then, on March 17, a Monitor reporter asked a man entering the building on Farm Road what was inside. “A government office,” the man replied. When asked which government agency the man was referring to, he repeated it was “just a government office.”
He then said he couldn’t speak to a reporter but provided contact information for someone who could: a public affairs officer with Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility. He mentioned that the internal affairs office on Farm Road had previously been at the Bangor airport.
An employee with Customs and Border Protection in the Bangor International Airport, which has signs and a service window accessible to the public, confirmed that the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility had recently left the airport for a new location but was unsure where.
Public affairs officers with Customs and Border Protection provided no further details. One said he could not speak to operations in Maine. A second public affairs officer said he would need to find yet a third person to answer questions from The Monitor but never did. He then asked for questions via email but did not respond to those questions by Saturday.
It’s not clear why the office moved to a new location where it was permitted by the city of Bangor to complete a $2.7-million renovation. Bangor spokesperson David Warren said he didn’t know if the city had received an explanation. And records filed with the code enforcement office didn’t provide one.
The building is owned by Farm Road LLC, which Nevada business records show is owned by Dana White, a graduate of Hermon High School, president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, one of the most famous sports executives in the world and a committed Maine real estate investor. White is also a vocal supporter of Trump, having introduced him at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
White appears to not be involved in the leasing of this property.
“Mr. White owns multiple commercial properties that are leased to various businesses and managed by a business partner,” UFC spokesperson Lenee Breckenridge wrote in an email. “He has no affiliation or connection to any business looking to lease any of the spaces.”
The person who applied for the construction permits at the facility, Luke McCannell, also did not respond to interview requests. McCannell and business partner, Louie Morrison, are the team behind Bangor’s first tiny home park. Morrison did not respond to interview requests.
A former high-ranking official with Customs and Border Protection, Daniel Altman, explained that it is common for the Office of Professional Responsibility to maintain a low profile. It’s also normal for the offices to be located away from regular Customs and Border Protection facilities to maintain their independence.
“It’s not a secret, but there is an element of sensitivity around the office and the vehicles and the people that work there,” said Altman, who was the executive director for investigative operations at the Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility until April 2025. “I don’t expect it to be in your face.”
Recently, Altman has been critical of the agency’s lack of transparency and accountability after the killing of Pretti.
The detainee, grand jury and weapons storage rooms are common features of any Office of Professional Responsibility space, Altman said.
What’s more, there is a tremendous amount of red tape involved in leasing a new facility, so securing the Farm Road location could have taken years. The beginning of any effort to move the Bangor office from the airport to the Farm Road building “certainly would have happened long before the current administration,” he said.