Short
History of the FBI
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Attorney General
Charles J. Bonaparte
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Chief
Examiner Stanley Finch was first to head the
new federal investigation agency.
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On
July 26, 1908, Attorney General (AG) Charles J. Bonaparte
ordered a small force of permanent investigators (organized
a month earlier) to report to the Department of Justice's
Chief Examiner, Stanley Finch. AG Bonaparte declared
that these investigators would handle all Department
of Justice (DOJ) investigative matters, except certain
bank frauds. At first, little seemed to come of AG
Bonaparte's reorganization.
In 1909,
this investigator force was named the Bureau of Investigation
(BOI). At this time, it investigated antitrust matters,
land fraud, copyright violations, peonage (involuntary
slavery), and twenty other matters. Over the next decade,
federal criminal authority and Bureau jurisdiction were
extended by laws like the 1910 "White-Slave Traffic" Act
that put responsibility for interstate prostitution under
the Bureau for a time and the 1919 Dyer Act that did
the same for interstate auto-theft. US entry into World
War II in April 1917 led to further increases in the
Bureau's jurisdiction. Congress and President Wilson
assigned the BOI's three hundred employees responsibility
for espionage, sabotage, sedition, and selective service
matters.
The
1920's brought Prohibition, the automobile, and an increase
in criminal activity. Bank robbers, bootleggers, and
kidnappers took advantage of jurisdictional boundaries
by crossing state lines to elude capture. A criminal
culture marked by violent gangsters flourished, but no
federal law gave the BOI authority to tackle their crimes
and other law enforcement efforts were fragmented. The
Bureau addressed these matters as its jurisdiction permitted
throughout the 1920's.
In 1924,
Attorney General Harlan Stone appointed John Edgar Hoover
as Director. Director Hoover (1924-1972) implemented
a number of reforms to clean up what had become a politicized
Bureau under the leadership of William J. Burns (1921-1924).
Hoover reinstated merit hiring, introduced professional
training of new Agents, demanded regular inspections
of all Bureau operations, and required strict professionalism
in the Bureau's work.
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Legendary
gangster "Baby Face Nelson"
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Notorious
John Dillinger and his gang terrorized the Midwest
from September 1933 until July 1934, killing
10 men, wounding 7 others, robbing banks and
police arsenals, and staging 3 jail breaks. On
July 22, 1934, Dillinger was shot and killed
by FBI Agents outside the Biograph Theater in
Chicago.
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Under
Hoover, the Bureau also began to emphasize service to
other law enforcement agencies. The Identification Division
was created in 1924 to provide US police a means to identify
criminals across jurisdictional boundaries. The Technical
Crime Laboratory, created in 1932, provided forensic
analysis and research for law enforcement, and the FBI
National Academy, opened in 1935, provided standardized
professional training for America's law enforcement communities.
In answer
to the violent crime of the 1930's, Congress began to
assign and expand new authorities to the Bureau. The
kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby son
in 1932 led to the passage of the Federal Kidnapping
Act, which allowed the Bureau to investigate interstate
kidnappings. The 1933 Kansas City Massacre spurred the
passage of the 1934 May/June Crime Bills. These laws
gave the Bureau authority to act in many new areas, to
make arrests, and to carry weapons. Renamed "Federal
Bureau of Investigation" in 1935, the FBI dealt with
gangsters severely, earning its anonymous agents the
nickname "G-Men."
As the
gangster threat subsided, a threat of a different nature
emerged. In 1936, President Roosevelt directed the FBI
to investigate potential subversion by Nazi and Communist
organizations. In 1940, he tasked the Bureau with responsibility
for foreign intelligence in the western hemisphere and
domestic security in the United States. In response,
the Bureau created a Special Intelligence Service (SIS)
Division in June 1940. The SIS sent undercover FBI Agents
throughout the Western Hemisphere. These Agents successfully
identified some 1,300 Axis intelligence agents (about
10% of whom were prosecuted). When President Truman ordered
the program's end in 1947, several former SIS offices
became the backbone of the FBI's foreign liaison efforts,
now serving as Legal Attaché Offices. FBI efforts also
thwarted many espionage, sabotage, and propaganda attempts
on the home front, including Frederick Duquesne's spy
ring in 1941 and George Dasch's band of saboteurs in
1942.
When
Germany and Japan surrendered in 1945, concern about
the threat of foreign intelligence did not end. Revelations
that year from former Soviet intelligence agents like
Igor Guzenko and Elizabeth Bentley, information gleaned
from FBI investigations during and after the war, and
decrypted/decoded Soviet cable traffic called "Venona" (available
to the Bureau from 1947), convinced the FBI of the seriousness
of the Soviet intelligence threat long before Senator
Joseph McCarthy made his 1950 speech about communist "moles." Under
the Hatch Act (1940) and Executive Orders issued in 1947
and 1951, the Bureau exercised responsibility for ensuring
the loyalty of those who sought to work in the government.
The FBI played a critical role in US handling of the
Cold War.
In
the 1950's, civil rights violations and organized crime
became matters of increasing concern. As in the past,
lack of jurisdiction hindered the Bureau from effectively
responding to these problems when they first emerged
as national issues. It was under the 1964 Civil Rights
Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act that the Bureau received
legislative authority to investigate many of the wrongs
done to African Americans in the South and elsewhere.
Under existing laws, the Bureau's efforts against organized
crime also started slowly. Then, with the 1968 Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act and the 1970 Organized
Crime Control Act, Congress gave the Bureau effective
weapons with which to attack organized criminal enterprises,
Title III warrants for wiretaps and the Racketeering
and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
During
the 1960's, subversion remained a central focus of Bureau
efforts. The counter-cultural revolution turned the Bureau's
attention towards violent student movements, as criminal
groups like the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers
engaged in both legitimate political action and illegal
crime. The Bureau responded to the threat of subversion
with Counterintelligence Programs (COINTELPRO) first
against the Communist Party (1956), later against other
violent/subversive groups like the Black Panthers and
the Ku Klux Klan (1960's). These programs resulted in
the Bureau, at times, effectively stepping out of its
proper role as a law enforcement agency.
During the 1970's, Bureau actions, which were publicly revealed through a strengthened
Freedom of Information Act (1966, amended in 1974), resulted in congressional
investigations like the Church Committee and the Pike Committee hearings in
1975. In response to criticisms emerging from these revelations, the Bureau
worked with Attorney General Levi to develop guidelines for its domestic counterintelligence
investigations.
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J.
Edgar Hoover served as FBI Director for almost
50 years.
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In the
wake of Director Hoover's death in May 1972, Director
Clarence M. Kelley (1973-1977) refocused FBI investigative
priorities to place less emphasis on having a high number
of cases and to focus more on the quality of cases handled.
Working with the Bureau and Congress in 1976, Attorney
General Edward Levi issued a set of investigative guidelines
to address the concerns of Bureau critics and to give
the FBI the confidence of having public, legal authority
behind its use of irreplaceable investigative techniques
like wiretaps, informants, and undercover agents. These
investigative techniques were used to great effect in
cases like ABSCAM (1980), GREYLORD (1984), and UNIRAC
(1978). In 1983, as concerns about terrorist acts grew,
Attorney General William French Smith revised the Levi
Guidelines to adjust the Bureau's ability to prevent
violent radical acts.
Director
William H. Webster (1977-1987) built upon Director Kelley's
emphasis on investigative "quality" cases by focusing
Bureau efforts on three Priority Programs: White Collar
Crime, Organized Crime, and Foreign Counterintelligence.
Later, Illegal Drugs (1982), Counterterrorism (1982),
and Violent Crimes (1989) were also identified as priority
programs. This concentration of resources brought great
success against Soviet and East Bloc intelligence as
more than 40 spies were arrested between 1977 and 1985.
The FBI also made breakthroughs against white-collar
crime in investigations like ILLWIND (1988) and LOST
TRUST (1990), and in organized crime cases like BRILAB
(1981) and the PIZZA CONNECTION (1985).
During
the 1990's, criminal and security threats to the United
States evolved as new technology and the fall of communism
in the Soviet bloc changed the geopolitical world. The
1993 bombing of the World Trade Centers and the 1995
bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building highlighted
the potentially catastrophic threat of both international
and domestic terrorism. The FBI responded to the emerging
international face of crime by aggressively building
bridges between US and foreign law enforcement. Under
the leadership of Director Louis J. Freeh (1993-2001),
the Bureau dramatically expanded its Legat Program (39
offices by fall 2000); provided professional law enforcement
education to foreign nationals through the International
Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest (opened in
1994) and other international education efforts; and
created working groups and other structured liaisons
with foreign law enforcement.
The
Bureau also strengthened its domestic agenda. Responding
to criticism of its actions in the 1993 standoffs at
Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the Bureau revamped
its crisis response efforts. The FBI's commitment to
law enforcement service was strengthened by the computerization
of its massive fingerprint collection database, enhancements
in the National Crime Information Center, and by the
revitalization of the FBI Laboratory. In 1997, the Bureau
hired its first professional scientist to head the Lab.
The Lab tightened its protocols for evidence control,
instituted organizational changes to optimize research
specialization, and earned national accreditation.
On September
4, 2001, former US Attorney Robert S. Mueller, III, (2001
to present) was sworn in as Director with a mandate to
address a number of tough challenges: upgrading the Bureau's
information technology infrastructure; addressing records
management issues; and enhancing FBI foreign counterintelligence
analysis and security in the wake of the damage done
by former Special Agent and convicted spy Robert S. Hanssen.
Then
within days of his entering on duty, the September 11
terrorist attacks were launched against New York and
Washington. Director Mueller led the FBI's massive investigative
efforts in partnership with all US law enforcement, the
federal government, and our allies overseas. On October
26, 2001, the President signed into law the US Patriot
Act, which granted new provisions to address the threat
of terrorism, and Director Mueller accordingly accepted
on behalf of the Bureau responsibility for protecting
the American people against future terrorist attacks.
On May 29, 2002, the Attorney General issued revised
investigative guidelines to assist the Bureau's counterterrorism
efforts.
To support
the Bureau's change in mission and to meet newly articulated
strategic priorities, Director Mueller called for a reengineering
of FBI structure and operations that will closely focus
the Bureau on prevention of terrorist attacks, on countering
foreign intelligence operations against the US, and on
addressing cyber-based attacks and other high technology
crimes. In addition, the Bureau remains dedicated to
protecting civil rights, and to combating public corruption,
organized crime, white-collar crime, and major acts of
violent crime. It is also strengthening its support to
federal, county, municipal, and international law enforcement
partners. And it is upgrading its technological infrastructure
to successfully meet each of its priorities.
At the
start of the new millennium, the FBI stands dedicated
to its core values and ethical standards. Commitment
to these values and standards ensures that the FBI effectively
carries out its mission.
For
more information on FBI history, including a list of
important dates, and biographical information on its
Directors, go to http://www.fbi.gov/executives/asstmain.htm |