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Federal Bureau of Investigation

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"FBI" redirects here. For other uses, see FBI (disambiguation).
Official FBI Seal

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the federal criminal investigative and intelligence agency, which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Title 28 of the United States Code (U.S. Code), Section 533, authorizes the Attorney General to "appoint officials to detect... crimes against the United States", and other federal statutes give the FBI the authority and responsibility to investigate specific crimes. At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes and thus has the broadest investigative authority of any U.S. federal law enforcement agency. The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list has been used since 1949 to notify the public of wanted fugitives. Its most basic function is to defend the United States Constitution.[1][2]

Overall mission

J. Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters

The mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States , and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.[2] The motto of the bureau is "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity."

Information obtained through an FBI investigation is presented to the appropriate U.S. Attorney or Department of Justice (DOJ) official, who decides if prosecution or other action is warranted.

Currently, the FBI top investigative priorities have been assigned to these areas[3]:

  1. Protect the United States from terrorist attack
  2. Protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage
  3. Protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes
  4. Combat public corruption at all levels
  5. Protect civil rights
  6. Combat transnational/national criminal organizations and enterprises
  7. Combat major white-collar crime
  8. Combat significant violent crime
  9. Support federal, state, local and international partners
  10. Upgrade technology to successfully perform the FBI's mission

Current mission

As of June 2006, the FBI's official top priority is counterterrorism. The second priority is counterintelligence. The USA PATRIOT Act granted the FBI increased powers, especially in wiretapping and monitoring of Internet activity. One of the most controversial provisions of the act is the so-called "sneak and peek" provision, granting the FBI powers to search a house while the residents are away, and not requiring them to notify the residents for several weeks afterwards. Under the PATRIOT Act's provisions the FBI also resumed inquiring into the library records of those who is suspected of terrorism, something it had supposedly not done since the 1970s. The third and fourth priorities are cyber crimes and public corruption. The cyber crimes category includes distribution of computer viruses and other malicious code. It also includes online distribution of child pornography among other crimes.

The FBI continues its historic mission of fighting organized crime. The FBI targets the organization behind the crime rather than individual criminals committing individual crimes. The FBI's chief tool against organized crime is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The FBI is also charged with the responsibility of enforcing compliance of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 and investigating violations of the act in addition to prosecuting such violations with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The FBI also shares concurrent jurisdiction with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

History

Lester J. Gillis, a.k.a "Baby Face Nelson." Photo from the FBI files.

The FBI originated from a force of Special Agents created on July 26, 1908, by Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. At first it was named the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and it did not become the FBI until 1935. The Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (now known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opened on November 24, 1932.

On July 1, 1932, the Bureau was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation. One year later on July 1, 1933, it was linked with the Bureau of Prohibition and became known as the Division of Investigation. Finally, in 1935, the bureau was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After J. Edgar Hoover's death, the FBI imposed a policy limiting the tenure of future FBI directors to a maximum of ten years.

During the 1930s, the agency played a prominent role in apprehending a number of well-known criminals who had conducted kidnappings, robberies and murders throughout the nation. These included John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson, Kate "Ma" Barker, Alvin Karpis and George "Machine Gun" Kelly. It also played a decisive role in reducing the scope and influence of the Ku Klux Klan. Through the work of Edwin Atherton, the FBI claimed success in apprehending an entire army of Mexican neo-revolutionaries along the California border in the 1920's.

Beginning with the 1940s and continuing into the 1970s, the agency investigated cases of espionage against the United States and its allies. Eight Nazi agents who had planned sabotage operations against American targets were arrested, six of whom were executed (Ex parte Quirin). Also during this time, a US joint FBI/military code breaking effort (Venona), "broke" Soviet diplomatic and intelligence communications codes, allowing the US and British governments to read Soviet communications. This effort confirmed the existence of Americans working in the United States for Soviet intelligence.[citation needed]

Although Hoover initially doubted the existence of a close-knit organized crime network in the United States, the bureau later conducted operations against known organized crime syndicates and families, including those headed by Sam Giancana and John Gotti.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the FBI carried out controversial domestic surveillance in an operation called Cointelpro. It aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States, including militant organizations and non-violent movements, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights organization[4]. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a frequent target of investigation. The FBI found no evidence of any crime, but attempted to use tapes of King involved in sexual activity for blackmail. Washington Post journalist Carl Rowan 1991 memoirs, asserted that the FBI had sent at least one anonymous letter to King encouraging him to commit suicide[5].

In the 1970s, the RICO act took effect and the FBI started investigating the former Prohibition organized groups, which had by now become fronts for crime in major cities and even small towns. All of the undercover work was taken to bring these organizations down from within.

When US President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed, the jurisdiction fell to the local police departments, but then US President Lyndon B. Johnson directed the FBI to take over the investigation[6]. To ensure that there would never be any more confusion over who would handle homicides at the federal level, Congress passed a law that put investigations of deaths of federal officials within FBI jurisdiction. This was just the start of modern violent crime as the FBI was again tasked to handle major violent crimes that happen within US borders.

The 1980s was dubbed "the year of the spy"[7] because of the large amount of spy-related cases bringing investigated and prosecuted. Before the Robert Hanssen's spy connection was uncovered in 2001, a high profile employee at the National Security Agency (NSA), William Pelton, had been caught in a spy ring.

In 1984, the FBI formed an elite SWAT team to help with problems that might arise at the 1984 Summer Olympics including terrorism and major-crime. The formation of the team arose from the 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich, Germany. The team was named Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) and acts as the FBI lead for SWAT related procedures and all Counter-Terrorism cases. Also formed in 1984 was the Computer Analysis and Response Team (CART) that would investigate all maters into and including gathering evidence[8].

During the end of the 1980s and the early part of the 1990s, saw the reassigning over 300 agents from foreign counter-intelligence duties to violent crime and making violent crime the 6th national priority. But with reduced cuts to other departments that have already been established, bearing in mind that terrorism was no longer a threat due to the Cold war ending[citation needed], the FBI became a tool by local police forces for finding and hunting down fugitives that crossed state lines which was an established federal felony at the time. The FBI Laboratory also helped in their development to due DNA testing just like they do with their fingerprinting system in 1924.

Between 1993 and 1996 the FBI however increased it's terrorism role in wake of the first 1993 World Trade Center Bombing in New York, New York, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (1995) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the arrest of the UNABOMBER in 1996. Improvements in their technology and Laboratory skills paid off when all three of these cases were successfully prosecuted, but the FBI would also have a string of public outcry during this time, which still haunts the agency today[9].

Once the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPA) of 1996, and the Economic Espionage Act, also in 1996, were passed in congress the FBI followed suit also upgrading their technological skills in 1998, just as it did in 1991 with the CART team. Computer Investigations and Infrastructure Threat Assessment Center (CITAC) and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) were created to deal with the increased growth of the World Wide Web related incidents from virus, worms, and other malicious programs that might cause havoc on the US internet structure. This helped the FBI also conduct court-authorized electronic surveillance in major investigations affecting public safety and national security in the face of telecommunications advancement.

With months after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, current FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, who was only sworn in three days before the attacks, called for a reengineering of FBI structure and operations. In turn he made every federal crime a top priority, including prevention of terrorist attacks, countering foreign intelligence operations, addressing cyber crime-based attacks, other high-technology crimes, protecting civil rights, combatting public corruption, organized crime, white-collar crime, and major acts of violent crime all of which now fall under the top investigative priorities of the FBI mission[10].

Organization

The FBI is headquartered at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., with 56 field offices [11] in major cities across the United States. The FBI also maintains over 400 resident agencies across the United States, as well as over 50 legal attachés at United States embassies and consulates. Many specialized FBI functions are located at facilities in Quantico, Virginia, as well as in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

BOI and FBI directors

File:FBI Finch.jpg
Stanley W. Finch, first Director of the BOI (1908–12)
File:Robertmueller.jpeg
Current director of the FBI is Robert S. Mueller III (2001–present)

Bureau of Investigation (BOI) directors (1908–35)

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) directors (1936–present)

Personnel

Agents in training on the FBI Academy firing range.

Currently, the FBI employs over 12,000 Special Agents and over 17,000 professional support personnel, although the exact number is classified. However listed on their website they say they have 30,430 employees. That includes 12,515 special agents and 17,915 support staff.[2]

Hiring process

While the exact process and details are classified, the process of becoming an employee of the FBI is arduous. At a minimum, FBI employees require a Top Secret security clearance, and in many instances employees need a higher level, TS/SCI clearance[12]. In order to get a security clearance, all potential FBI personnel must pass a series of Single Scope Background Investigations (SSBI), which are conducted by the Office of Personnel Management[13].

After potential special agent candidates are cleared with TS/SCI clearance and the Form SF-312 non-disclosure agreement is signed, they attend the FBI training facility located on Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Candidates spend approximately 18 weeks at the FBI Academy, where they receive over 500 classroom and over 1000 simulated law enforcement hours to train. Upon graduation, new FBI Special Agents are placed all around the country and the world, depending on their areas of expertise. Professional support staff work out of one of the many support buildings the FBI maintains. However, any Agent or Support staff member can be transferred to any location for any length of time if their skills are deemed necessary at one of the FBI field offices.

Publications

The FBI publishes many different reports on a variety of topics. These publications are for both law enforcement personnel as well as regular citizens. The various topics include violent crime, cyber crime, white-collar crimes, and of course, terrorism.

Law Enforcement Bulletin

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin is published monthly by the FBI, with articles of interest to state and local law enforcement personnel. First published in 1932 as Fugitives Wanted by Police, [14] the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin covers topics including law enforcement technology and issues, such as crime mapping and use of force, as well as recent criminal justice research, and VICAP alerts, on wanted suspects and key cases.

Crime statistics

Uniform Crime Reports

Main article: Uniform Crime Reports
File:FBI Badge.jpg
The badge of an FBI Special Agent

The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) compile data from over 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the country. They provide detailed data regarding the volume of crimes to include arrest, clearance (or closing a case), and law enforcement officer information. The UCR focuses its data collection on violent crimes, hate crimes, and property crimes. [15]

Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2005 was released on June 16, 2006. The report shows a violent crime offenses rose 2.5%, but the number of property crime offenses decreased 1.6% compared to 2004[16].

National Incident Based Reporting System

The FBI is developing a new crime statistics system, called the National Incident Based Reporting System, which aims to address limitations inherent in UCR data.

Media portrayal

Main article: FBI portrayal in the Media

Any author, television script writer, or producer may consult with the FBI about closed cases or their operations, services, or history. However, there is no requirement that they do so, unlike the CIA's Office of Public Affairs, which does this so everything is "accurate", the FBI does not edit, approve their work, or does any special consulting. Some authors, television programs, or motion picture producers offer reasonably accurate presentations of the FBI's responsibilities, investigations, and procedures in their story lines, while others present their own interpretations or introduce fictional events, persons, or places for dramatic effect.

Criticism

The FBI has endured public criticism and internal conflict in the past decade. As the FBI attempts to modernize technologically to taking on a greater counter-terrorism role (and everything in-between) there have been times where the FBI is scrutinized.

Most of the recent controversies in the FBI have been involved with "terrorist" organizations or "operational" mishaps. In the early and late 1990s, for its role in the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents caused an uproar in how tactics where handled. During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, the FBI was also criticized for its investigation on the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. It has recently settled a dispute with Richard Jewell, who was a private security guard at the venue, from leaking his name during the investigation. In the 1990s, it turned out that the fingerprint unit of the FBI's crime lab had repeatedly done shoddy work. In some cases, the technicians, given evidence that actually cleared a suspect, reported instead that it proved the suspect guilty. Many cases had to be reopened when this pattern of errors was discovered.

In 2000, the FBI began the Trilogy project to upgrade its outdated IT infrastructure. This project, originally scheduled to take three years and cost around $380 million, ended up going far over budget and behind schedule. Efforts to deploy modern computers and networking equipment were generally successful, but attempts to develop new investigation software, outsourced to SAIC, were a disaster. Virtual Case File, or VCF, as the software was known, was plagued by poorly defined goals and repeated changes in management. In January 2005, more than two years after the software was originally planned to be completed, the FBI officially abandoned the project. At least $100 million (and much more by some estimates) was spent on the project, which was never operational. The FBI has been forced to continue using its decade-old Automated Case Support system, which is considered to be woefully inadequate by IT experts. In March 2005, the FBI announced it is beginning a new, more ambitious software project code-named Sentinel, expected to be completed by 2009[17].

In February 2001, Robert Hanssen was caught selling information to the Russians. It was later learned that Hanssen, who had reached a high position within the FBI, had been selling intelligence since as early as 1979. He pleaded guilty to treason and received a life sentence in 2002, but the incident led many to question the security practices employed by the FBI. There was also a a claim that Robert Hanssen might have contributed information that led to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The 9/11 Commission released, in its final report in July 22, 2004, stated that the FBI and CIA were both partially to blame for not pursuing intelligence reports which could have prevented the September 11, 2001 attacks. In its most damning assessment, the report concluded that the country had "not been well served" by either agency and listed numerous recommendations for changes within the FBI. [18] While the FBI has acceded to most of the recommendations, including oversight by the new Director of National Intelligence, some former members of the 9/11 Commission publicly criticized the FBI in October 2005, claiming it was resisting any meaningful changes. [citation needed]

Other facts

  • Richard M. Nixon applied for the Special Agent position in the FBI. His application was turned down, but later he became Vice President and eventually President of the United States.

See also

Further reading

  • Williams, David (1981). Journal of American History, The Bureau of Investigation and its Critics, 1919-1921: the Origins of Federal Political Surveillance. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Sullivan, William (1979). The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover's FBI. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Powers, Richard Gid (1983). G-Men, Hoover's FBI in American Popular Culture. Southern Illinois University Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Theoharis, Athan G. (1988). The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition. Temple Univ. Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Theoharis, Athan G. (2000). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Tonry, Michael (2000). The Handbook of Crime & Punishment. Oxford University Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Trahair, Richard C. S. (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. Ballentine: Greenwood Press. ISBN 345-23831-1-195. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Theoharis, Athan G. (2004). The FBI and American Democracy: A Brief Critical History. Kansas: University Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

References

  1. ^ "The FBI". U.S. Constitution Fact Site.
  2. ^ a b c "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Quick Facts". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  3. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Priorities". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  4. ^ "A Break-In to End All Break-Ins". LA Times.
  5. ^ "Was Martin Luther King, Jr. a plagiarist?". Washington Post.
  6. ^ "Postwar America: 1945 - 1960s". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  7. ^ "Rise in Internationial Crime". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  8. ^ "End of the Cold War". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  9. ^ "Rise of a Wired World". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  10. ^ "Change of Mandate". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  11. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Field Divisions". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  12. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation Jobs". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  13. ^ "Review of the Security and Emergency Planning Staff's Management of Background Investigations". U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General. 2005, September. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "History of the FBI, The New Deal: 1933 - Late 1930's". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  15. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Information on thereports and publications". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  16. ^ "Preliminary Crime Statistics for 2005". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  17. ^ "Senators seek to fast track FBI's Sentinel". FCW.Com.
  18. ^ "9/11 Commission finds 'deep institutional failings'". John Shovelan.
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