Federal Bureau of Investigation

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Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity
Director: Robert S. Mueller III
Department: Justice
Divisions:
FBI Academy FBI Laboratory Criminal Justice Information Services
Major units:
Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) Counterterrorism Division (CTD) Law Enforcement Bulletin Unit (LEBU) Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) National Security Branch (NSB)
Lists:
List of FBI Directors List of FBI Field Offices
Programs:
Notable operations COINTELPRO Crime statistics NIBRS Uniform Crime Reports Most wanted FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
Key people:
W. Mark Felt Joseph L. Gormley
Miscellaneous:
FBI portrayal in the media
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes, making the FBI the de-facto lead law enforcement agency of the United States government.^[1] The motto of the bureau is "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity." In fiscal year 2006, the FBI total budget was approximately $5.7 billion, including $495 million in program increases to enhance counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cyber crime, information technology, security, forensics, training, and criminal programs.

Starting in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the FBI did not receive its current name until 1935 during the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the sixth BOI Director. He was the longest-serving director to date, and significantly responsible for developing the scope of the agency. He also is responsible for many of the advancements and changes that made way for it to become one of the top investigative agencies in the world. The J. Edgar Hoover building, the FBI Academy, and the Criminal Justice Information Services Complex serve as the main support offices for each of the field offices that are located throughout the country.

Contents 1 Mandate 2 History 3 Organization 3.1 BOI and FBI directors 3.2 Hiring process 4 Publications 5 Crime statistics 5.1 Uniform Crime Reports 5.2 National Incident Based Reporting System 6 Media portrayal 7 Criticism 8 See also 9 Further reading 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Mandate

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.^[1] 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."^[2] Other federal statutes give the FBI the authority and responsibility to investigate specific crimes.

Information obtained through an FBI investigation is presented to the appropriate US 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 (see Terrorism);
2. Protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage (see Counter-espionage);
3. Protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes (see Cyber-warfare);
4. Combat public corruption at all levels;
5. Protect civil rights;
6. Combat transnational/national criminal organizations and enterprises (see Organized crime);
7. Combat major white-collar crime;
8. Combat significant violent crime;
9. Support federal, state, local and international partners; and
10. Upgrade technology for successful performance of the FBI's mission.

As of June 2006, the FBI's top priority is counter-terrorism. The second priority is counter-intelligence. The USA PATRIOT Act increased the powers allotted to the FBI, 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^[4] of those who are 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.

[edit] History

The FBI grew out of 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 in 1932 was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation. The following year it was linked to the Bureau of Prohibition and rechristened the Division of Investigation (DOI) before finally becoming the FBI in 1935. The director of the old BOI, J. Edgar Hoover, became the first FBI director and served for 48 years. After Hoover's death, legislation was passed limiting the tenure of future FBI directors to a maximum of ten years. The Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, or the FBI Laboratory, officially opened in 1932, largely as a result of Hoover's efforts. He also had a major say in most of the cases and projects the FBI handled all the way up to his death. During the so-called "war on crime" of the 1930s, FBI agents apprehended or killed a number of notorious criminals who carried out a number of kidnappings, robberies, and murders throughout the nation, including John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson, Kate "Ma" Barker, Alvin Karpis, and George "Machine Gun" Kelly. While this campaign, as well as the campaign to build-up the FBI, was carried out in response to a national crime wave, most historians now believe that if there was a crime wave at all, it was grossly exaggerated during the depression. The Bureau 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 1920s.

Beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1970s, the Bureau 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 joint US/UK code breaking effort (Venona) - with which the FBI was heavily involved - 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.^[5] Hoover was administering this project but failed to notify the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until 1952. Another notable case is the arrest of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in 1957.^[6] The discovery of Soviet spies operating in the US allowed Hoover to pursue his longstanding obsession with the threat he perceived from the American left, ranging from Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) union organizers to American liberals with no revolutionary aspirations whatsoever.

During the 1950s and 1960s, FBI officials became increasingly concerned about the influence of civil rights leaders. In 1956, for example, Hoover took the rare step of sending an open letter denouncing Dr. T.R.M. Howard, a civil rights leader, surgeon, and wealthy entrepreneur in Mississippi who had criticized FBI inaction in solving recent murders of George W. Lee, Emmett Till, and other blacks in the South. The FBI carried out controversial domestic surveillance in an operation called COINTELPRO.^[7] It aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States, including both militant and non-violent organizations, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights organization.^[8]

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.^[9]

When President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed, the jurisdiction fell to the local police departments until President Lyndon B. Johnson directed the FBI to take over the investigation.^[10] 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.

After the RICO Act took effect, the FBI began investigating the former Prohibition organized groups, which by now become fronts for crime in major cities and even small towns. All of the FBI work was done undercover and from within these organizations using the provisions provided in the RICO Act and these groups were dismantled. Although Hoover initially denied 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. The RICO Act is still used today for all organized crime and any individuals that might fall under the Act.

In 1984, the FBI formed an elite SWAT^[11] team to help with problems that might arise at the 1984 Summer Olympics, particularly terrorism and major-crime. The formation of the team arose from the 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich, Germany when terrorists murdered Israeli Athletes. 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).^[12] The end of the 1980s and the early part of the 1990s saw the reassignment of over 300 agents from foreign counter-intelligence duties to violent crime and the designation of violent crime as the sixth national priority. But with reduced cuts to other well-established departments, and because terrorism was not longer considered a threat after the end of the Cold War,^[12] the FBI became a tool of local police forces for tracking fugitives who had crossed state lines, which was a felony. The FBI Laboratory also helped develop DNA testing, continuing the pioneering role in identification that began with its fingerprinting system in 1924.

Between 1993 and 1996, the FBI increased its counter-terrorism role in the wake of the first 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, New York and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and the arrest of the UNABOMBER in 1996. Technological innovation and the skills of FBI Laboratory analysts helped ensure that all three of these cases were successfully prosecuted, but the FBI was also confronted by a public outcry in this period, which still haunts it today.^[13] After Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA, 1994), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPA, 1996), and the Economic Espionage Act (EEA, 1996), the FBI followed suit and underwent a technological upgrade in 1998, just as it did with its CART team in 1991. Computer Investigations and Infrastructure Threat Assessment Center (CITAC) and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) were created to deal with the increase in internet-related problems, such as computer viruses, worms, and other malicious programs that might unleash havoc in the US. With these developments, the FBI increased its electronic surveillance in public safety and national security investigations, adapting to how telecommunications advancements changed the nature of such problems.

Within months of the September 11, 2001 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was only sworn in three days before the attacks, called for a re-engineering of FBI structure and operations. In turn, he made countering every federal crime a top priority, including the prevention of terrorism, countering foreign intelligence operations, addressing cyber security threats, other high-tech crimes, protecting civil rights, combating public corruption, organized crime, white-collar crime, and major acts of violent crime.^[14]

[edit] Organization

The FBI is headquartered at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., with 56 field offices^[15] 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. The FBI is in process of moving its Records Management Division, which processes FOIA requests, to Winchester, Virginia.^[16]

The FBI Laboratory, established with the formation of the BOI,^[17] did not appear in the J. Edgar Hoover Building until its completion in 1974. The lab serves as the primary lab for most DNA, biological, and physical work. Public tours of FBI headquarters ran through the FBI laboratory workspace before the move to the J. Edgar Hoover Building. The services the lab conducts include Chemistry, Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), Computer Analysis and Response, DNA Analysis, Evidence Response, Explosives, Firearms and Tool marks, Forensic Audio, Forensic Video, Image Analysis, Forensic Science Research, Forensic Science Training, Hazardous Materials Response, Investigative and Prospective Graphics, Latent Prints, Materials Analysis, Questioned Documents, Racketeering Records, Special Photographic Analysis, Structural Design, and Trace Evidence.^[18] The services of the FBI Laboratory are used by many state, local, and international agencies free of charge. The lab also maintains a second lab at the FBI Academy.

The FBI Academy, located in Quantico, Virginia, is home to the communications and computer laboratory the FBI utilizes. It is also where new agents are sent for training to become FBI Special Agents. Going through the twenty-one week course is required for every Special Agent.^[19] It was first opened for use in 1972 on 385 acres (1.6 km²) of woodland. The Academy also serves as a classroom for state and local law enforcement agencies who are invited onto the premiere law enforcement training center. The FBI units that reside at Quantico are the Field and Police Training Unit, Firearms Training Unit, Forensic Science Research and Training Center, Technology Services Unit (TSU), Investigative Training Unit, Law Enforcement Communication Unit, Leadership and Management Science Unit's (LSMU), Physical Training Unit, New Agents' Training Unit (NATU), Practical Applications Unit (PAU), the Investigative Computer Training Unit and the "College of Analytical Studies."

The Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division,^[20] located in Clarksburg, West Virginia. It is the youngest division of the FBI only being formed in 1991 and opening in 1995. The complex itself is the length of three football fields. Its purpose is to provide a main repository for information. Under the roof of the CJIS are the programs for the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR), Fingerprint Identification, Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), NCIC 2000, and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Many state and local agencies use these systems as a source for their own investigations and contribute to the database using secure communications. FBI provides these tools of sophisticated identification and information services to local, state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies.

The FBI often works in conjunction with other Federal agencies, including the United States Coast Guard and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in seaport security,^[21] and the National Transportation Safety Board in investigating airplane crashes and other critical incidents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the only other agency with the closest amount of investigative power. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the FBI always maintains a role in most federal criminal investigations.

[edit] BOI and FBI directors

Main article: List of FBI Directors

FBI Directors are appointed by the President of the United States. They must be confirmed by the United States Senate and serve ten-year terms. J. Edgar Hoover, appointed by Calvin Coolidge, was by far the longest-serving FBI Director, serving until his death in 1972 because there was no law limiting the amount of years a director could serve. The current FBI Director is Robert Mueller, who was appointed in 2001 by George W. Bush.

The FBI director is responsible for the day-to-day operations at the FBI. Along with his deputies, the director makes sure cases and operations are handled correctly. The director also is in charge of making sure the leadership in any one of the FBI field offices are manned with qualified agents. Before the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act was passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the FBI director would brief the President of the United States on any issues that arise from within the FBI. Since then the director now reports to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) who in turn tells the President.

[edit] 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 (TS) security clearance, and in many instances, employees need a higher level, TS/SCI clearance.^[22] 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.^[23] Special Agents candidates also have to pass a rigorous Physical Fitness Test (PFT) that includes a 300-meter run, one-minute sit-ups, maximum push-ups, and a 1.5-mile run. There is also random drug test all FBI personnel have to pass in order to become an agent. In addition to the drug test, there is a polygraph test personnel have to pass, with questions including possible drug use. After potential special agent candidates are cleared with TS 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 21 weeks at the FBI Academy, where they receive over 500 classroom hours 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 works 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 or one of the 400 resident agencies the FBI maintains.

As of October 31, 2006, the FBI had a total of 30,762 employees. That includes 12,659 special agents and 18,009 support staff, such as intelligence analysts, language specialists, scientists, information technology specialists, and other professionals.

[edit] Publications

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin is published monthly by the FBI Law Enforcement Communication Unit,^[24] with articles of interest to state and local law enforcement personnel. First published in 1932 as Fugitives Wanted by Police,^[25] 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.

The FBI also publishes some reports for both law enforcement personnel as well as regular citizens covering topics including law enforcement, terrorism, cybercrime, white-collar crime, violent crime, and statistics.^[26] However, the vast majority of Federal government publications covering these topics are published by the Office of Justice Programs agencies of the United States Department of Justice, and disseminated through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.

[edit] Crime statistics

[edit] Uniform Crime Reports

Main article: Uniform Crime Reports

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.^[26] Created in the 1920s, the UCR system has not proven to be as uniform as its name implies. The UCR data only reflect the most serious offense in the case of connected crimes and has a very restrictive definition of rape. Since about 93% of the data submitted to the FBI is in this format, the UCR stands out as the publication of choice as most states require law enforcement agencies to submit this data.

Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2005 was released on June 16, 2006. The report shows violent crime offenses rose 2.5%, but the number of property crime offenses decreased 1.6% compared to 2004.^[27]

[edit] National Incident Based Reporting System

Main article: National Incident Based Reporting System

The National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) crime statistics system aims to address limitations inherent in UCR data. The system used by law enforcement agencies in the United States for collecting and reporting data on crimes. Local, state, and federal agencies generate NIBRS data from their records management systems. Data is collected on every incident and arrest in the Group A offense category. The Group A offenses are comprised of 46 specific crimes grouped in 22 offense categories. Specific facts about these offenses are gathered and reported in the NIBRS system. In addition to the Group A offenses, eleven Group B offenses are reported with only the arrest information. The NIBRS system is in greater detail than the summary-based UCR system. As of 2004, 5,271 law enforcement agencies submitted NIBRS data. That amount represents 20% of the United States population and 16% of the crime statistics data collected by the FBI.

[edit] Media portrayal

Main article: FBI portrayal in the media

Any author, television scriptwriter, or producer may consult with the FBI about closed cases or their operations, services, or history. The FBI does not edit, approve their work, or do 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.

[edit] Criticism

The FBI has endured public criticism and internal conflict in the past decade. As the FBI attempts to modernize technologically to take on a greater counter-terrorism role, there have been times where the FBI is scrutinized. The FBI is also regularly criticized by local, state, and other federal agencies for lack of cooperation, heavy-handedness in assuming jurisdiction over cases, and a tendency to attempt to skew media coverage in their direction. In their defense, it has been noted that there has been a concerted effort by FBI management to address these problems, and that positive changes have been noticed.

Most of the recent controversies in the FBI have been involved with "terrorist" organizations or "operational" mishaps. In the early and late 1990s, 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 along with the media organizations,^[28] 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.^[29] 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.^[30] In January 2005, more than two years after the software was originally planned for completion, 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 woefully inadequate by IT experts. In March 2005, the FBI announced it is beginning a new, more ambitious software project code-named Sentinel expected for completion by 2009.^[31]

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 claim that Robert Hanssen might have contributed information that led to the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[32]

The 9/11 Commission's final report on 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 condemning assessment, the report concluded that the country had "not been well served" by either agency and listed numerous recommendations for changes within the FBI.^[33] 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.^[34]

[edit] See also

• State Level Organizations
  • State Bureau of Investigation

• Other International Agencies
  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • Canadian Security Intelligence Service
  • Serious Organised Crime Agency (UK)
  • Federal Agency of Investigation (Mexico)
  • Australian Federal Police
  • Policia Federal Argentina

• Notable persons
  • Moses Powell (first black man to train FBI agents in hand-to-hand combat)
  • Richard Miller (first FBI Special Agent to be convicted of espionage)

[edit] Further reading

• Powers, Richard Gid (1983). G-Men, Hoover's FBI in American Popular Culture. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-1096-1. 
• Sullivan, William (1979). The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover's FBI. Norton. ISBN 0-393-01236-0. 
• Theoharis, Athan G.; John Stuart Cox (1988). The Boss: J.Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition. Temple Univ. Press. ISBN 0-87722-532-X. 
• Theoharis, Athan G.; Tony G. Poveda, Susan Rosenfeld, Richard Gid Powers (2000). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Checkmark Books. ISBN 0-8160-4228-4. 
• Theoharis, Athan G. (2004). The FBI and American Democracy: A Brief Critical History. Kansas: University Press. ISBN 0-7006-1345-5. 
• Tonry, Michael (ed) (2000). The Handbook of Crime & Punishment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514060-5. 
• Trahair, Richard C.S. (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. Ballentine: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31955-3. 
• Williams, David (1981). "The Bureau of Investigation and its Critics, 1919-1921: the Origins of Federal Political Surveillance". Journal of American History 68: 560-579. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official FBI website
• Original Bureau of Investigation Document Online: William Randolph Hearst