The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (Chinese: 法務部調查局, MJIB) is a criminal-investigation and counter-intelligence agency of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of China. The agency is run by the Director General which is accountable to the cabinet level minister, Minister of Justice.
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The Bureau of Investigation was established in 1927. Initially, it was called Bureau of Investigation and Statistics subordinated to the Central Executive Committee of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). During that time, it was nicknamed "Zhong-Tong" (zh:中統), meaning Central-Statistics. In 1930s and 1940s, it carried the responsibilities of intelligence-gathering and counter-intelligence. By 1949 the bureau was formally established into a government agency and assigned to the Ministry of Interior(內政部). In 1956, the agency was transferred to the Ministry of Judicial Administration(zh:司法行政部) and took over most of the counter-intelligence duty in Taiwan. In 1980 the agency was re-designated to the current Ministry of Justice(法務部).
Due to its historic background, initially all its field offices were to remain anonymous but later this tradition had been reviewed and decided that all units of MJIB are now transparent and accountable. Although it is a law enforcement agency, MJIB still exercises intelligence-gathering responsibilities but the focus is mainly on Taiwan.
Since 30 October 1998, the MJIB function has been redefined by an Executive Yuan decree. The bureau has nine missions:
Administratively, MJIB is answerable to the Minister of Justice. As a result, all public procurators at all level are able to direct the human resource of MJIB. Operationally, MJIB is subjected to the coordination and supervision of National Security Bureau. Naturally, the director of MJIB could be summoned by the Taiwan President for consultant because of MJIB's eighth and ninth missions of responsibility in Taiwan.