History of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Published: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001

Contents:

Origins (1908 - 1910)
Early Days (1910 - 1921)
The "Lawless" Years (1921 - 1933)
The New Deal (1933 - late 1930s)
World War II Period (late 1930s - 1945)
Postwar America (1945 - 1960s)
The Vietnam War Era (1960s - mid 1970s)
Aftermath of Watergate (1970s)
The Rise of International Crime (1980s)
The End of the Cold War (1989 - 1993)
Preparing for the Future (1993 - Present)



ORIGINS

The FBI originated from a force of Special Agents created in 1908 by 
Attorney General Charles Bonaparte during the Presidency of Theodore 
Roosevelt. The two men first met when they both spoke at a meeting of the 
Baltimore Civil Service Reform Association. Roosevelt, then Civil Service 
Commissioner, boasted of his reforms in federal law enforcement. It was 
1892, a time when law enforcement was often political rather than 
professional. Roosevelt spoke with pride of his insistence that Border 
Patrol applicants pass marksmanship tests, with the most accurate getting 
the jobs. Following Roosevelt on the program, Bonaparte countered, tongue 
in cheek, that target shooting was not the way to get the best men. 
"Roosevelt should have had the men shoot at each other, and given the jobs 
to the survivors."

Roosevelt and Bonaparte both were "Progressives." They shared the 
conviction that efficiency and expertise, not political connections, 
should determine who could best serve in government. Theodore Roosevelt 
became President of the United States in 1901; four years later, he 
appointed Bonaparte to be Attorney General. In 1908, Bonaparte applied 
that Progressive philosophy to the Department of Justice by creating a 
corps of Special Agents. It had neither a name nor an officially 
designated leader other than the Attorney General. Yet, these former 
detectives and Secret Service men were the forerunners of the FBI.

Today, most Americans take for granted that our country needs a federal 
investigative service, but in 1908, the establishment of this kind of 
agency at a national level was highly controversial. The U.S. Constitution 
is based on "federalism:" a national government with jurisdiction over 
matters that crossed boundaries, like interstate commerce and foreign 
affairs, with all other powers reserved to the states. Through the 1800s, 
Americans usually looked to cities, counties, and states to fulfill most 
government responsibilities. However, by the 20th century, easier 
transportation and communications had created a climate of opinion 
favorable to the federal government establishing a strong investigative 
tradition.

The impulse among the American people toward a responsive federal 
government, coupled with an idealistic, reformist spirit, characterized 
what is known as the Progressive Era, from approximately 1900 to 1918. The 
Progressive generation believed that government intervention was necessary 
to produce justice in an industrial society. Moreover, it looked to 
"experts" in all phases of industry and government to produce that just 
society.

President Roosevelt personified Progressivism at the national level. A 
federal investigative force consisting of well-disciplined experts and 
designed to fight corruption and crime fit Roosevelt's Progressive scheme 
of government. Attorney General Bonaparte shared his President's 
Progressive philosophy. However, the Department of Justice under Bonaparte 
had no investigators of its own except for a few Special Agents who 
carried out specific assignments for the Attorney General, and a force of 
Examiners (trained as accountants) who reviewed the financial transactions 
of the federal courts. Since its beginning in 1870, the Department of 
Justice used funds appropriated to investigate federal crimes to hire 
private detectives first, and later investigators from other federal 
agencies. (Federal crimes are those that were considered interstate or 
occurred on federal government reservations.)

By 1907, the Department of Justice most frequently called upon Secret 
Service "operatives" to conduct investigations. These men were well-
trained, dedicated -- and expensive. Moreover, they reported not to the 
Attorney General, but to the Chief of the Secret Service. This situation 
frustrated Bonaparte, who wanted complete control of investigations under 
his jurisdiction. Congress provided the impetus for Bonaparte to acquire 
his own force. On May 27, 1908, it enacted a law preventing the Department 
of Justice from engaging Secret Service operatives.

The following month, Attorney General Bonaparte appointed a force of 
Special Agents within the Department of Justice. Accordingly, ten former 
Secret Service employees and a number of Department of Justice peonage 
(i.e., compulsory servitude) investigators became Special Agents of the 
Department of Justice. On July 26, 1908, Bonaparte ordered them to report 
to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch. This action is celebrated as the 
beginning of the FBI.

Both Attorney General Bonaparte and President Theodore Roosevelt, who 
completed their terms in March 1909, recommended that the force of 34 
Agents become a permanent part of the Department of Justice. Attorney 
General George Wickersham, Bonaparte's successor, named the force the 
Bureau of Investigation on March 16, 1909. At that time, the title of 
Chief Examiner was changed to Chief of the Bureau of Investigation.



EARLY DAYS

When the Bureau was established, there were few federal crimes. The Bureau 
of Investigation primarily investigated violations of laws involving 
national banking, bankruptcy, naturalization, antitrust, peonage, and land 
fraud. Because the early Bureau provided no formal training, previous law 
enforcement experience or a background in the law was considered desirable.

The first major expansion in Bureau jurisdiction came in June 1910 when 
the Mann ("White Slave") Act was passed, making it a crime to transport 
women over state lines for immoral purposes. It also provided a tool by 
which the federal government could investigate criminals who evaded state 
laws but had no other federal violations. Finch became Commissioner of 
White Slavery Act violations in 1912, and former Special Examiner A. Bruce 
Bielaski became the new Bureau of Investigation Chief.

Over the next few years, the number of Special Agents grew to more than 
300, and these individuals were complemented by another 300 Support 
Employees. Field offices existed from the Bureau's inception. Each field 
operation was controlled by a Special Agent in Charge who was responsible 
to Washington. Most field offices were located in major cities. However, 
several were located near the Mexican border where they concentrated on 
smuggling, neutrality violations, and intelligence collection, often in 
connection with the Mexican revolution.

With the April 1917 entry of the United States into World War I during 
Woodrow Wilson's administration, the Bureau's work was increased again. As 
a result of the war, the Bureau acquired responsibility for the Espionage, 
Selective Service, and Sabotage Acts, and assisted the Department of Labor 
by investigating enemy aliens. During these years Special Agents with 
general investigative experience and facility in certain languages 
augmented the Bureau.

William J. Flynn, former head of the Secret Service, became Director of 
the Bureau of Investigation in July 1919 and was the first to use that 
title. In October 1919, passage of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act 
gave the Bureau of Investigation another tool by which to prosecute 
criminals who previously evaded the law by crossing state lines. With the 
return of the country to "normalcy" under President Warren G. Harding in 
1921, the Bureau of Investigation returned to its pre-war role of fighting 
the few federal crimes.



THE "LAWLESS" YEARS

The years from 1921 to 1933 were sometimes called the "lawless years" 
because of gangsterism and the public disregard for Prohibition, which 
made it illegal to sell or import intoxicating beverages. Prohibition 
created a new federal medium for fighting crime, but the Department of the 
Treasury, not the Department of Justice, had jurisdiction for these 
violations.

Attacking crimes that were federal in scope but local in jurisdiction 
called for creative solutions. The Bureau of Investigation had limited 
success using its narrow jurisdiction to investigate some of the criminals 
of "the gangster era." For example, it investigated Al Capone as a 
"fugitive federal witness." Federal investigation of a resurgent white 
supremacy movement also required creativity. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), 
dormant since the late 1800s, was revived in part to counteract the 
economic gains made by African Americans during World War I. The Bureau of 
Investigation used the Mann Act to bring Louisiana's philandering KKK 
"Imperial Kleagle" to justice.

Through these investigations and through more traditional investigations 
of neutrality violations and antitrust violations, the Bureau of 
Investigation gained stature. Although the Harding Administration suffered 
from unqualified and sometimes corrupt officials, the Progressive Era 
reform tradition continued among the professional Department of Justice 
Special Agents. The new Bureau of Investigation Director, William J. 
Burns, who had previously run his own detective agency, appointed 26-year-
old J. Edgar Hoover as Assistant Director. Hoover, a graduate of George 
Washington University Law School, had worked for the Department of Justice 
since 1917, where he headed the enemy alien operations during World War I 
and assisted in the General Intelligence Division under Attorney General 
A. Mitchell Palmer, investigating suspected anarchists and communists.

After Harding died in 1923, his successor, Calvin Coolidge, appointed 
replacements for Harding's cronies in the Cabinet. For the new Attorney 
General, Coolidge appointed attorney Harlan Fiske Stone. Stone then, on 
May 10, 1924, selected Hoover to head the Bureau of Investigation. By 
inclination and training, Hoover embodied the Progressive tradition. His 
appointment ensured that the Bureau of Investigation would keep that 
tradition alive.

When Hoover took over, the Bureau of Investigation had approximately 650 
employees, including 441 Special Agents who worked in field offices in 
nine cities. By the end of the decade, there were approximately 30 field 
offices, with Divisional headquarters in New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, 
Cincinnati, Chicago, Kansas City, San Antonio, San Francisco, and 
Portland. He immediately fired those Agents he considered unqualified and 
proceeded to professionalize the organization. For example, Hoover 
abolished the seniority rule of promotion and introduced uniform 
performance appraisals. At the beginning of the decade, the Bureau of 
Investigation established field offices in nine cities. He also scheduled 
regular inspections of the operations in all field offices. Then, in 
January 1928, Hoover established a formal training course for new Agents, 
including the requirement that New Agents had to be in the 25-35 year 
range to apply. He also returned to the earlier preference for Special 
Agents with law or accounting experience.

The new Director was also keenly aware that the Bureau of Investigation 
could not fight crime without public support. In remarks prepared for the 
Attorney General in 1925, he wrote, "The Agents of the Bureau of 
Investigation have been impressed with the fact that the real problem of 
law enforcement is in trying to obtain the cooperation and sympathy of the 
public and that they cannot hope to get such cooperation until they 
themselves merit the respect of the public." Also in 1925, Agent Edwin C. 
Shanahan became the first Agent to be killed in the line of duty when he 
was murdered by a car thief.

In the early days of Hoover's directorship, a long held goal of American 
law enforcement was achieved: the establishment of an Identification 
Division. Tracking criminals by means of identification records had been 
considered a crucial tool of law enforcement since the 19th century, and 
matching fingerprints was considered the most accurate method. By 1922, 
many large cities had started their own fingerprint collections.

In keeping with the Progressive Era tradition of federal assistance to 
localities, the Department of Justice created a Bureau of Criminal 
Identification in 1905 in order to provide a centralized reference 
collection of fingerprint cards. In 1907, the collection was moved, as a 
money-saving measure, to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, where it was 
staffed by convicts. Understandably suspicious of this arrangement, police 
departments formed their own centralized identification bureau maintained 
by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. It refused to share 
its data with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. In 1924, Congress was 
persuaded to merge the two collections in Washington, D.C., under Bureau 
of Investigation administration. As a result, law enforcement agencies 
across the country began contributing fingerprint cards to the Bureau of 
Investigation by 1926.

By the end of the decade, Special Agent training was institutionalized, 
the field office inspection system was solidly in place, and the National 
Division of Identification and Information was collecting and compiling 
uniform crime statistics for the entire United States. In addition, 
studies were underway that would lead to the creation of the Technical 
Laboratory and Uniform Crime Reports. The Bureau was equipped to end the 
"lawless years."



THE NEW DEAL

The 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression brought hard times to 
America. Hard times, in turn, created more criminals--and also led 
Americans to escape their troubles through newspapers, radio, and movies.

To combat the crime wave, President Franklin D. Roosevelt influenced 
Congress in his first administration to expand federal jurisdiction, and 
his Attorney General, Homer Cummings, fought an unrelenting campaign 
against rampant crime. One case highlighting the rampant crime included 
the swindling and murder of members of the Osage Indian tribe in Oklahoma 
for the rights to their oil fields.

Noting the widespread interest of the media in this war against crime, 
Hoover carried the message of FBI work through them to the American 
people. For example, in 1932, the first issue of the FBI Law Enforcement 
Bulletin - then called Fugitives Wanted by Police, was published. Hoover 
became as adept at publicizing his agency's work as he was at 
administering it. Prior to 1933, Bureau Agents had developed an esprit de 
corps, but the public considered them interchangeable with other federal 
investigators. Three years later, mere identification with the FBI was a 
source of special pride to its employees and commanded instant recognition 
and respect from the public. By the end of the decade, the Bureau had 
field offices in 42 cities and employed 654 Special Agents and 1141 
Support Employees.

During the early and mid-1930s several crucial decisions solidified the 
Bureau's position as the nation's premier law enforcement agency. 
Responding to the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, in 1932, Congress 
passed a federal kidnapping statute. Then in May and June 1934, with 
gangsters like John Dillinger evading capture by crossing over state 
lines, it passed a number of federal crime laws that significantly 
enhanced the Bureau's jurisdiction. In the wake of the Kansas City 
Massacre, Congress also gave Bureau Agents statutory authority to carry 
guns and make arrests.

The Bureau of Investigation was renamed the United States Bureau of 
Investigation on July 1, 1932. Then, beginning July 1, 1933, the 
Department of Justice experimented for almost two years with a Division of 
Investigation that included the Bureau of Prohibition. Public confusion 
between Bureau of Investigation Special Agents and Prohibition Agents led 
to a permanent name change in 1935 for the agency composed of Department 
of Justice's investigators: the Federal Bureau of Investigation was thus 
born.

Contributing to its forensic expertise, the Bureau established its 
Technical Laboratory in 1932. Journalist Rex Collier called it "a novel 
research laboratory where government criminologists will match wits with 
underworld cunning." Originally the small laboratory operated strictly as 
a research facility. However, it benefitted from expanded federal funding, 
eventually housing specialized microscopes and extensive reference 
collections of guns, watermarks, typefaces, and automobile tire designs.

In 1935, the FBI National Academy was established to train police officers 
in modern investigative methods, since at that time only a few states and 
localities provided formal training to their peace officers. The National 
Academy taught investigative techniques to police officials throughout the 
United States, and starting in the 1940s, from all over the world.

The legal tools given to the FBI by Congress, as well as Bureau 
initiatives to upgrade its own professionalism and that of law 
enforcement, resulted in the arrest or demise of all the major gangsters 
by 1936. By that time, however, Fascism in Adolph Hitler's Germany and 
Benito Mussolini's Italy, and Communism in Josef Stalin's Soviet Union 
threatened American democratic principles. With war on the horizon, a new 
set of challenges faced the FBI.



WORLD WAR II PERIOD

Germany, Italy, and Japan embarked on an unchecked series of invasions 
during the late 1930s. Hitler and Mussolini supported the Spanish 
Falangists in their successful civil war against the "Loyalist" Spanish 
government (1937-39). Although many Europeans and North Americans 
considered the Spanish Civil War an opportunity to destroy Fascism, the 
United States, Great Britain, and France remained neutral; only Russia 
supported the Loyalists. To the shock of those who admired Russia for its 
active opposition to Fascism, Stalin and Hitler signed a nonaggression 
pact in August 1939. The following month Germany and Soviet Russia seized 
Poland. A short time later, Russia overran the Baltic States. Finland, 
while maintaining its independence, lost western Karelia to Russia. Great 
Britain and France declared war on Germany, which formed the "Axis" with 
Japan and Italy--and World War II began. The United States, however, 
continued to adhere to the neutrality acts it had passed in the mid-1930s.

As these events unfolded in Europe, the American Depression continued. The 
Depression provided as fertile an environment for radicalism in the United 
States as it did in Europe. European Fascists had their counterparts and 
supporters in the United States in the German-American Bund, the Silver 
Shirts, and similar groups. At the same time, labor unrest, racial 
disturbances, and sympathy for the Spanish Loyalists presented an 
unparalleled opportunity for the American Communist Party to gain 
adherents. The FBI was alert to these Fascist and Communist groups as 
threats to American security.

Authority to investigate these organizations came in 1936 with President 
Roosevelt's authorization through Secretary of State Cordell Hull. A 1939 
Presidential Directive further strengthened the FBI's authority to 
investigate subversives in the United States, and Congress reinforced it 
by passing the Smith Act in 1940, outlawing advocacy of violent overthrow 
of the government.

With the actual outbreak of war in 1939, the responsibilities of the FBI 
escalated. Subversion, sabotage, and espionage became major concerns. In 
addition to Agents trained in general intelligence work, at least one 
Agent trained in defense plant protection was placed in each of the FBI's 
42 field offices. The FBI also developed a network of informational 
sources, often using members of fraternal or veterans' organizations. With 
leads developed by these intelligence networks and through their own work, 
Special Agents investigated potential threats to national security.

Great Britain stood virtually alone against the Axis powers after France 
fell to the Germans in 1940. An Axis victory in Europe and Asia would 
threaten democracy in North America. Because of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the 
American Communist Party and its sympathizers posed a double-edged threat 
to American interests. Under the direction of Russia, the American 
Communist Party vigorously advocated continued neutrality for the United 
States.

In 1940 and 1941, the United States moved further and further away from 
neutrality, actively aiding the Allies. In late 1940, Congress 
reestablished the draft. The FBI was responsible for locating draft 
evaders and deserters.

Without warning, the Germans attacked Russia on June 22, 1941. Thereafter, 
the FBI focused its internal security efforts on potentially dangerous 
German, Italian, and Japanese nationals as well as native-born Americans 
whose beliefs and activities aided the Axis powers.

The FBI also participated in intelligence collection. Here the Technical 
Laboratory played a pioneering role. Its highly skilled and inventive 
staff cooperated with engineers, scientists, and cryptographers in other 
agencies to enable the United States to penetrate and sometimes control 
the flow of information from the belligerents in the Western Hemisphere.

Sabotage investigations were another FBI responsibility. In June 1942, a 
major, yet unsuccessful, attempt at sabotage was made on American soil. 
Two German submarines let off four saboteurs each at Amagansett, Long 
Island, and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. These men had been trained by 
Germany in explosives, chemistry, secret writing, and how to blend into 
American surroundings. While still in German clothes, the New York group 
encountered a Coast Guard sentinel patrolling the beach, who ultimately 
allowed them to pass. However, afraid of capture, saboteur George Dasch 
turned himself in--and assisted the FBI in locating and arresting the rest 
of the team. The swift capture of these Nazi saboteurs helped to allay 
fear of Axis subversion and bolstered Americans' faith in the FBI.

Also, before U.S. entry into the War, the FBI uncovered another major 
espionage ring. This group, the Frederick Duquesne spy ring, was the 
largest one discovered up to that time. The FBI was assisted by a loyal 
American with German relatives who acted as a double agent. For nearly two 
years the FBI ran a radio station for him, learning what Germany was 
sending to its spies in the United States while controlling the 
information that was being transmitted to Germany. The investigation led 
to the arrest and conviction of 33 spies.

War for the United States began December 7, 1941, when Japanese armed 
forces attacked ships and facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United 
States immediately declared war on Japan, and the next day Germany and 
Italy declared war on the United States. By 9:30 p.m., Eastern Standard 
Time, on December 7, the FBI was in a wartime mode. FBI Headquarters and 
the 54 field offices were placed on 24-hour schedules. On December 7 and 
8, the FBI arrested previously identified aliens who threatened national 
security and turned them over to military or immigration authorities.

At this time, the FBI augmented its Agent force with National Academy 
graduates, who took an abbreviated training course. As a result, the total 
number of FBI employees rose from 7,400 to over 13,000, including 
approximately 4,000 Agents, by the end of 1943.

Traditional war-related investigations did not occupy all the FBI's time. 
For example, the Bureau continued to carry out civil rights 
investigations. Segregation, which was legal at the time, was the rule in 
the Armed Services and in virtually the entire defense industry in the 
1940s. Under pressure from African-American organizations, the President 
appointed a Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). The FEPC had no 
enforcement authority. However, the FBI could arrest individuals who 
impeded the war effort. The Bureau assisted the FEPC when a Philadelphia 
transit workers' union went out on strike against an FEPC desegregation 
order. The strike ended when it appeared that the FBI was about to arrest 
its leaders.

The most serious discrimination during World War II was the decision to 
evacuate Japanese nationals and American citizens of Japanese descent from 
the West Coast and send them to internment camps. Because the FBI had 
arrested the individuals whom it considered security threats, FBI Director 
Hoover took the position that confining others was unnecessary. The 
President and Attorney General, however, chose to support the military 
assessment that evacuation and internment were imperative. Ultimately, the 
FBI became responsible for arresting curfew and evacuation violators.

While most FBI personnel during the war worked traditional war-related or 
criminal cases, one contingent of Agents was unique. Separated from Bureau 
rolls, these Agents, with the help of FBI Legal Attaches, composed the 
Special Intelligence Service (SIS) in Latin America. Established by 
President Roosevelt in 1940, the SIS was to provide information on Axis 
activities in South America and to destroy its intelligence and propaganda 
networks. Several hundred thousand Germans or German descendants and 
numerous Japanese lived in South America. They provided pro-Axis pressure 
and cover for Axis communications facilities. Nevertheless, in every South 
American country, the SIS was instrumental in bringing about a situation 
in which, by 1944, continued support for the Nazis became intolerable or 
impractical.

Non-war acts were not limited to civil rights cases. In 1940, the FBI 
Disaster Squad was created when the FBI Identification Division was called 
upon to identify some Bureau employees who were on a flight which had 
crashed near Lovettsville, Virginia.

In April 1945, President Roosevelt died, and Vice President Harry Truman 
took office as President. Before the end of the month, Hitler committed 
suicide and the German commander in Italy surrendered. Although the May 
1945 surrender of Germany ended the war in Europe, war continued in the 
Pacific until August 14, 1945.

The world that the FBI faced in September 1945 was very different from the 
world of 1939 when the war began. American isolationism had effectively 
ended, and, economically, the United States had become the world's most 
powerful nation. At home, organized labor had achieved a strong foothold; 
African Americans and women, having tasted equality during wartime labor 
shortages, had developed aspirations and the means of achieving the goals 
that these groups had lacked before the war. The American Communist Party 
possessed an unparalleled confidence, while overseas the Soviet Union 
strengthened its grasp on the countries it had wrested from German 
occupation--making it plain that its plans to expand Communist influence 
had not abated. And hanging over the euphoria of a world once more at 
peace was the mushroom cloud of atomic weaponry.



POSTWAR AMERICA

In February 1946 Stalin gave a public address in which he implied that 
future wars were inevitable until Communism replaced capitalism worldwide. 
Events in Europe and North America convinced Congress that Stalin was well 
on his way to achieving his goal. The Russian veto prevented the United 
Nations from curbing Soviet expansion under its auspices.

Americans feared Communist expansion was not limited to Europe. By 1947, 
ample evidence existed that pro-Soviet individuals had infiltrated the 
American Government. In June, 1945, the FBI raided the offices of 
Amerasia, a magazine concerned with the Far East, and discovered a large 
number of classified State Department documents. Several months later the 
Canadians arrested 22 people for trying to steal atomic secrets. 
Previously, Americans felt secure behind their monopoly of the atomic 
bomb. Fear of a Russian bomb now came to dominate American thinking. The 
Soviets detonated their own bomb in 1949.

Counteracting the Communist threat became a paramount focus of government 
at all levels, as well as the private sector. While U.S. foreign policy 
concentrated on defeating Communist expansion abroad, many U.S. citizens 
sought to defeat the Communist threat at home. The American Communist 
Party worked through front organizations or influenced other Americans who 
agreed with their current propaganda ("fellow travelers").

Since 1917, the FBI and its predecessor agencies had investigated 
suspected acts of espionage and sabotage. In 1939 and again in 1943, 
Presidential directives had authorized the FBI to carry out investigations 
of threats to national security. This role was clarified and expanded 
under Presidents Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Any public or private 
agency or individual with information about subversive activities was 
urged to report it to the FBI. A poster to that effect was distributed to 
police departments throughout the country. At the same time, it warned 
Americans to "avoid reporting malicious gossip or idle rumors." The FBI's 
authority to conduct background investigations on present and prospective 
government employees also expanded dramatically in the postwar years. The 
1946 Atomic Energy Act gave the FBI "responsibility for determining the 
loyalty of individuals ...having access to restricted Atomic Energy data." 
Later, executive orders from both Presidents Truman and Eisenhower gave 
the FBI responsibility for investigating allegations of disloyalty among 
federal employees. In these cases, the agency requesting the investigation 
made the final determination; the FBI only conducted the investigation and 
reported the results. Many suspected and convicted spies, such as Julius 
and Ethel Rosenberg, had been federal employees. Therefore, background 
investigations were considered to be just as vital as cracking major 
espionage cases.

Despite the threats to the United States of subversion and espionage, the 
FBI's extended jurisdiction, and the time-consuming nature of background 
investigations, the Bureau did not surpass the number of Agents it had 
during World War II--or its yearly wartime budget--until the Korean War in 
the early 1950s. After the Korean War ended, the number of Agents 
stabilized at about 6,200, while the budget began a steady climb in 1957.

Several factors converged to undermine domestic Communism in the 1950s. 
Situations like the Soviet defeat of the Hungarian rebellion in 1956 
caused many members to abandon the American Communist Party. However, the 
FBI also played a role in diminishing Party influence. The Bureau was 
responsible for the investigation and arrest of alleged spies and Smith 
Act violators, most of whom were convicted. Through Hoover's speeches, 
articles, testimony, and books like Masters of Deceit, the FBI helped 
alert the public to the Communist threat.

The FBI's role in fighting crime also expanded in the postwar period 
through its assistance to state and local law enforcement and through 
increased jurisdictional responsibility. On March 14, 1950, the FBI began 
its "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" List to increase law enforcement's ability 
to capture dangerous fugitives. Advances in forensic science and technical 
development enabled the FBI to devote a significant proportion of its 
resources to assisting state and local law enforcement agencies.

A dramatic example of aid to a state occurred after the midair explosion 
of a plane over Colorado in 1955. The FBI Laboratory examined hundreds of 
airplane parts, pieces of cargo, and the personal effects of passengers. 
It pieced together evidence of a bomb explosion from passenger luggage, 
then painstakingly looked into the backgrounds of the 44 victims. 
Ultimately, Agents identified the perpetrator and secured his confession, 
then turned the case over to Colorado authorities who successfully 
prosecuted it in a state court.

At the same time, Congress gave the FBI new federal laws with which to 
fight civil rights violations, racketeering, and gambling. These new laws 
included the Civil Rights Acts of 1960 and 1964; the 1961 Crimes Aboard 
Aircraft Act; an expanded Federal Fugitive Act; and the Sports Bribery Act 
of 1964.

Up to this time, the interpretation of federal civil rights statutes by 
the Supreme Court was so narrow that few crimes, however heinous, 
qualified to be investigated by federal agents.

The turning point in federal civil rights actions occurred in the summer 
of 1964, with the murder of voting registration workers Michael Schwerner, 
Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney near Philadelphia, Mississippi. At the 
Department of Justice's request, the FBI conducted the investigation as it 
had in previous, less-publicized racial incidents. The case against the 
perpetrators took years to go through the courts. Only after 1966, when 
the Supreme Court made it clear that federal law could be used to 
prosecute civil rights violations, were seven men found guilty. By the 
late 1960s, the confluence of unambiguous federal authority and local 
support for civil rights prosecutions allowed the FBI to play an 
influential role in enabling African Americans to vote, serve on juries, 
and use public accommodations on an equal basis.

Other civil rights investigations included the assasination of Martin 
Luther King, Jr., with the arrest of James Earl Ray, and the murder of 
Medger Evers, Mississippi Field Secretary of the NAACP, with the arrest of 
Byron De La Beckwith who, after two acquittals, was finally found guilty 
in 1994.

Involvement of the FBI in organized crime investigations also was hampered 
by the lack of possible federal laws covering crimes perpetrated by 
racketeers. After Prohibition, many mob activities were carried out 
locally, or if interstate, they did not constitute major violations within 
the Bureau's jurisdiction.

An impetus for federal legislation occurred in 1957 with the discovery by 
Sergeant Croswell of the New York State Police that many of the best known 
mobsters in the United States had met together in upstate New York. The 
FBI collected information on all the individuals identified at the 
meeting, confirming the existence of a national organized-crime network. 
However, it was not until an FBI Agent persuaded mob insider Joseph 
Valachi to testify that the public learned firsthand of the nature of La 
Cosa Nostra, the American "mafia."

On the heels of Valachi's disclosures, Congress passed two new laws to 
strengthen federal racketeering and gambling statutes that had been passed 
in the 1950s and early 1960s to aid the Bureau's fight against mob 
influence. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 provided 
for the use of court-ordered electronic surveillance in the investigation 
of certain specified violations. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt 
Organizations (RICO) Statute of 1970 allowed organized groups to be 
prosecuted for all of their diverse criminal activities, without the 
crimes being linked by a perpetrator or all-encompassing conspiracy. Along 
with greater use of Agents for undercover work by the late 1970s, these 
provisions helped the FBI develop cases that, in the 1980s, put almost all 
the major traditional crime family heads in prison.

By the end of the 1960s, the Bureau employed 6,703 Special Agents and 9,
320 Support Personnel in 58 field offices and twelve Legal Attache offices.

A national tragedy produced another expansion of FBI jurisdiction. When 
President Kennedy was assassinated, the crime was a local homicide; no 
federal law addressed the murder of a President. Nevertheless, President 
Lyndon B. Johnson tasked the Bureau with conducting the investigation. 
Congress then passed a new law to ensure that any such act in the future 
would be a federal crime.



THE VIETNAM WAR ERA

President Kennedy's assassination introduced the violent aspect of the era 
known as the "Sixties." This period, which actually lasted into the mid-
1970s, was characterized by idealism, but also by increased urban crime 
and a propensity for some groups to resort to violence in challenging the 
"establishment."

Most Americans objecting to involvement in Vietnam or to other policies 
wrote to Congress or carried peace signs in orderly demonstrations. 
Nevertheless, in 1970 alone, an estimated 3,000 bombings and 50,000 bomb 
threats occurred in the United States.

Opposition to the war in Vietnam brought together numerous anti-
establishment groups and gave them a common goal. The convergence of 
crime, violence, civil rights issues, and potential national security 
issues ensured that the FBI played a significant role during this troubled 
period.

Presidents Johnson and Nixon and Director Hoover shared with many 
Americans a perception of the potential dangers to this country from some 
who opposed its policies in Vietnam. As Hoover observed in a 1966 PTA 
Magazine article, the United States was confronted with "a new style in 
conspiracy--conspiracy that is extremely subtle and devious and hence 
difficult to understand...a conspiracy reflected by questionable moods and 
attitudes, by unrestrained individualism, by nonconformism in dress and 
speech, even by obscene language, rather than by formal membership in 
specific organizations."

The New Left movement's "romance with violence" involved, among others, 
four young men living in Madison, Wisconsin. Antiwar sentiment was 
widespread at the University of Wisconsin (UW), where two of them were 
students. During the very early morning of August 24, 1970, the four used 
a powerful homemade bomb to blow up Sterling Hall, which housed the Army 
Math Research Center at UW. A graduate student was killed and three others 
were injured.

That crime occurred a few months after National Guardsmen killed four 
students and wounded several others during an antiwar demonstration at 
Kent State University. The FBI investigated both incidents. Together, 
these events helped end the "romance with violence" for all but a handful 
of hardcore New Left revolutionaries. Draft dodging and property damage 
had been tolerable to many antiwar sympathizers. Deaths were not.

By 1971, with few exceptions, the most extreme members of the antiwar 
movement concentrated on more peaceable, yet still radical tactics, such 
as the clandestine publication of The Pentagon Papers. However, the 
violent Weathermen and its successor groups continued to challenge the FBI 
into the 1980s.

No specific guidelines for FBI Agents covering national security 
investigations had been developed by the Administration or Congress; 
these, in fact, were not issued until 1976. Therefore, the FBI addressed 
the threats from the militant "New Left" as it had those from Communists 
in the 1950s and the KKK in the 1960s. It used both traditional 
investigative techniques and counterintelligence programs ("Cointelpro") 
to counteract domestic terrorism and conduct investigations of individuals 
and organizations who threatened terroristic violence. Wiretapping and 
other intrusive techniques were discouraged by Hoover in the mid-1960s and 
eventually were forbidden completely unless they conformed to the Omnibus 
Crime Control Act. Hoover formally terminated all "Cointelpro" operations 
on April 28, 1971.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover died on May 2, 1972, just shy of 48 years as 
the FBI Director. He was 77. The next day his body lay in state in the 
Rotunda of the Capitol, an honor accorded only 21 other Americans.

Hoover's successor would have to contend with the complex turmoil of that 
troubled time. In 1972, unlike 1924 when Attorney General Harlan Fiske 
Stone selected Hoover, the President appointed the FBI Director with 
confirmation by the Senate. President Nixon appointed L. Patrick Gray as 
Acting Director the day after Hoover's death. After retiring from a 
distinguished Naval career, Gray had continued in public service as the 
Department of Justice's Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. 
As Acting Director, Gray appointed the first women as Special Agents since 
the 1920s.

Shortly after Gray became Acting Director, five men were arrested 
photographing documents at the Democratic National Headquarters in the 
Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The break-in had been 
authorized by Republican Party officials. Within hours, the White House 
began its effort to cover up its role, and the new Acting FBI Director was 
inadvertently drawn into it. FBI Agents undertook a thorough investigation 
of the break-in and related events. However, when Gray's questionable 
personal role was revealed, he withdrew his name from the Senate's 
consideration to be Director. He was replaced hours after he resigned on 
April 27, 1973, by William Ruckleshaus, a former Congressman and the first 
head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who remained until Clarence 
Kelley's appointment as Director on July 9, 1973. Kelley, who was Kansas 
City Police Chief when he received the appointment, had been an FBI Agent 
from 1940 to 1961.



THE AFTERMATH OF WATERGATE

Three days after Director Kelley's appointment, top aides in the Nixon 
Administration resigned amid charges of White House efforts to obstruct 
justice in the Watergate case. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 
October, following charges of tax evasion. Then, following impeachment 
hearings that were broadcast over television to the American public 
throughout 1974, President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. Vice 
President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as President that same day. In 
granting an unconditional pardon to ex-President Nixon one month later, he 
vowed to heal the nation.

Director Kelley similarly sought to restore public trust in the FBI and in 
law enforcement. He instituted numerous policy changes that targeted the 
training and selection of FBI and law enforcement leaders, the procedures 
of investigative intelligence collection, and the prioritizing of criminal 
programs. All of this was done while continuing open investigations. One 
such case was the Patty Hearst kidnapping investigation.

In 1974, Kelley instituted Career Review Boards and programs to identify 
and train potential managers. For upper management of the entire law 
enforcement community, the FBI, in cooperation with the International 
Association of Chiefs of Police and the Major Cities Chief Administrators, 
started the National Executive Institute, which provided high-level 
executive training and encouraged future operational cooperation.

Kelley also responded to scrutiny by Congress and the media on whether FBI 
methods of collecting intelligence in domestic security and 
counterintelligence investigations abridged Constitutional rights.

The FBI had traditionally used its own criteria for intelligence 
collection, based on executive orders and blanket authority granted by 
attorney generals. After congressional hearings, Attorney General Edward 
Levi established finely detailed guidelines for the first time. The 
guidelines for FBI foreign counterintelligence investigations went into 
effect on March 10, 1976, and for domestic security investigations on 
April 5, 1976 (The latter were superseded March 21, 1983).

Kelley's most significant management innovation, however, was implementing 
the concept of "Quality over Quantity" investigations. He directed each 
field office to set priorities based on the types of cases most important 
in its territory and to concentrate resources on those priority matters. 
Strengthening the "Quality over Quantity" concept, the FBI as a whole 
established three national priorities: foreign counterintelligence, 
organized crime, and white-collar crime. To handle the last priority, the 
Bureau intensified its recruitment of accountants. It also stepped up its 
use of undercover operations in major cases.

During Kelley's tenure as Director, the FBI made a strong effort to 
develop an Agent force with more women and one that was more reflective of 
the ethnic composition of the United States. By the late 1970s nearly 8,
000 Special Agents and 11,000 Support Employees worked in 59 Field Offices 
and 13 Legal Attache offices.



THE RISE OF INTERNATIONAL CRIME

In 1978, Director Kelley resigned and was replaced by former federal Judge 
William H. Webster. At the time of his appointment, Webster was serving as 
Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He had 
previously been a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern 
District of Missouri. Also in 1978, the FBI began using laser technology 
in the Identification Division to detect latent crime scene fingerprints.

In 1982, following an explosion of terrorist incidents worldwide, Webster 
made counterterrorism a fourth national priority. He also expanded FBI 
efforts in the three others: foreign counterintelligence, organized crime, 
and white-collar crime. Part of this expansion was the creation of the 
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime.

The FBI solved so many espionage cases during the mid-1980s that the press 
dubbed 1985 "the year of the spy." The most serious espionage damage 
uncovered by the FBI was perpetrated by the John Walker spy ring and by 
former National Security Agency employee William Pelton.

Throughout the 1980s, the illegal drug trade severely challenged the 
resources of American law enforcement. To ease this challenge, in 1982 the 
Attorney General gave the FBI concurrent jurisdiction with the Drug 
Enforcement Administration (DEA) over narcotics violations in the United 
States. The expanded Department of Justice attention to drug crimes 
resulted in the confiscation of millions of dollars in controlled 
substances, the arrests of major narcotics figures, and the dismantling of 
important drug rings. One of the most publicized, dubbed "the Pizza 
Connection" case, involved the heroin trade in the United States and 
Italy. It resulted in 18 convictions, including a former leader of the 
Sicilian Mafia. Then Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis J. Freeh, who was to be 
appointed FBI Director in 1993, was key to prosecutive successes in the 
case.

On another front, Webster strengthened the FBI's response to white-collar 
crimes. Public corruption was attacked nationwide. Convictions resulting 
from FBI investigations included members of Congress (ABSCAM), the 
judiciary (GREYLORD), and state legislatures in California and South 
Carolina. A major investigation culminating in 1988 unveiled corruption in 
defense procurement (ILLWIND).

As the United States faced a financial crisis in the failures of savings 
and loan associations during the 1980s, the FBI uncovered instances of 
fraud that lay behind many of those failures. It was perhaps the single 
largest investigative effort undertaken by the FBI to that date: from 
investigating 10 bank failures in 1981, it had 282 bank failures under 
investigation by February 1987. Resources to investigate fraud during the 
savings and loan crisis were provided by the Financial Institution Reform, 
Recovery and Enhancement Act.

In 1984, the FBI acted as lead agency for security of the Los Angeles 
Olympics. In the course of its efforts to anticipate and prepare for acts 
of terrorism and street crime, it built important bridges of interaction 
and cooperation with local, state, and other federal agencies, as well as 
agencies of other countries. It also unveiled the FBI's Hostage Rescue 
Team as a domestic force capable of responding to complex hostage 
situations such as tragically occurred in Munich at the 1972 games.

Perhaps as a result of the Bureau's emphasis on combatting terrorism, such 
acts within the United States decreased dramatically during the 1980s. In 
1986, Congress had expanded FBI jurisdiction to cover terrorist acts 
against U.S. citizens outside the U.S. boundaries. Later, in 1989, the 
Department of Justice authorized the FBI to arrest terrorists, drug 
traffickers, and other fugitives abroad without the consent of the foreign 
country in which they resided.

Expanded resources were not limited to "established" crime areas like 
terrorism and violent crime. In 1984, the FBI established the Computer 
Analysis and Response Team (CART) to retrieve evidence from computers 
(Need to put as subt. est 1984, full in 1991).

On May 26, 1987, Judge Webster left the FBI to become Director of the 
Central Intelligence Agency. Executive Assistant Director John E. Otto 
became Acting Director and served in that position until November 2, 1987. 
During his tenure, Acting Director Otto designated drug investigations as 
the FBI's fifth national priority.

On November 2, 1987, former federal Judge William Steele Sessions was 
sworn in as FBI Director. Prior to his appointment as FBI Director, 
Sessions served as the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the 
Western District of Texas. He had previously served as a District Judge 
and as U.S. Attorney for that district.

Under Director Sessions, crime prevention efforts, in place since Director 
Kelley's tenure, were expanded to include a drug demand reduction program. 
FBI offices nationwide began working closely with local school and civic 
groups to educate young people to the dangers of drugs. Subsequent 
nationwide community outreach efforts under that program evolved and 
expanded through such initiatives as the Adopt-A-School/Junior G-Man 
Program. The expansion in initiatives required a larger workforce and by 
1988, the FBI employed 9663 Special Agents and 13651 Support Employees in 
58 Field Offices and 15 Legal Attaches.



THE END OF THE COLD WAR

The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 electrified the world 
and dramatically rang up the Iron Curtain on the final act in the Cold 
War: the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, which occurred on 
December 25, 1991.

While world leaders scrambled to reposition their foreign policies and 
redefine national security parameters, the FBI responded as an agency in 
January 1992 by reassigning 300 Special Agents from foreign 
counterintelligence duties to violent crime investigations across the 
country. It was an unprecedented opportunity to intensify efforts in 
burgeoning domestic crime problems--and at the same time to rethink and 
retool FBI national security programs in counterintelligence and 
counterterrorism.

In response to a 40-percent increase in crimes of violence over the 
previous 10 years, Director Sessions had designated the investigation of 
violent crime as the FBI's sixth national priority program in 1989. By 
November 1991 the FBI had created "Operation Safe Streets" in Washington, 
D.C.--a concept of federal, state, and local police task forces targeting 
fugitives and gangs. Therefore, it was now ready to expand this 
operational assistance to police nationwide.

At the same time, the FBI Laboratory helped change the face of violent 
criminal identification. Its breakthrough use of DNA technology enabled 
genetic crime-scene evidence to positively identify--or rule out--suspects 
by comparing their particular DNA patterns. This unique identifier enabled 
the creation of a national DNA Index, similar to the fingerprint index, 
which had been implemented in 1924.

The FBI also strengthened its response to white-collar crimes. Popularized 
as "crime in the suites," these nonviolent crimes had steadily increased 
as automation in and deregulation of industries had created new 
environments for fraud. Resources were, accordingly, redirected to combat 
the new wave of large-scale insider bank fraud and financial crimes; to 
address criminal sanctions in new federal environmental legislation; and 
to establish long-term investigations of complex health care frauds.

At the same time, the FBI reassessed its strategies in defending national 
security, now no longer defined as the containment of communism and the 
prevention of nuclear war.

By creating the National Security Threat List, which was approved by the 
Attorney General in 1991, it changed its approach from defending against 
hostile intelligence agencies to protecting U.S. information and 
technologies. It thus identified all countries--not just hostile 
intelligence services--that pose a continuing and serious intelligence 
threat to the United States. It also defined expanded threat issues, 
including the proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; 
the loss of critical technologies; and the improper collection of trade 
secrets and proprietary information. As President Clinton was to note in 
1994, with the dramatic expansion of the global economy "national security 
now means economic security."

Two events occurred in late 1992 and early 1993 that were to have a major 
impact on FBI policies and operations. In August 1992, the FBI responded 
to the shooting death of Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan, who was killed 
at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, while participating in a surveillance of federal 
fugitive Randall Weaver. In the course of the standoff, Weaver's wife was 
accidentally shot and killed by an FBI sniper.

Eight months later, at a remote compound outside Waco, Texas, FBI Agents 
sought to end a 51-day standoff with members of a heavily armed religious 
sect who had killed four officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms. Instead, as Agents watched in horror, the compound burned to the 
ground from fires lit by members of the sect. Eighty persons, including 
children, died in the blaze.

These two events set the stage for public and congressional inquiries into 
the FBI's ability to respond to crisis situations.

On July 19, 1993, following allegations of ethics violations committed by 
Director Sessions, President Clinton removed him from office and appointed 
Deputy Director Floyd I. Clarke as Acting FBI Director. The President 
noted that Director Sessions' most significant achievement was broadening 
the FBI to include more women and minorities.



PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE: 1993 -

Louis J. Freeh was sworn in as Director of the FBI on September 1, 1993. 
He had served as an FBI Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City Field 
Office and at FBI Headquarters before leaving to join the U.S. Attorney's 
Office for the Southern District of New York. Here Freeh rose quickly and 
prosecuted many major FBI cases, including the notorious "Pizza 
Connection" case and the "VANPAC" mail bomb case. He was appointed a U.S. 
District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York in 1991. On 
July 20, 1993, President Clinton nominated him to be FBI Director. He was 
confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 6, 1993.

Freeh began his tenure with a clearly articulated agenda that would 
respond both to deepening crime problems and to a climate of government 
downsizing. In his oath of office speech he called for new levels of 
cooperation among law enforcement agencies, both at home and abroad, and 
he announced his intention to restructure the FBI in order to maximize its 
operational response to crime.

A major reorganization to streamline Headquarters operations of the FBI 
was announced. Selected divisions and offices were merged, reorganized, or 
abolished, cutting many management positions. Soon after, Freeh ordered 
the transfer of 600 Special Agents serving in administrative positions to 
investigative positions in field offices. To revitalize an aging Agent 
work force, Freeh gained approval to end a 2-year hiring freeze on new 
Agents. In continuation of the FBI's commitment to the advancement of 
minorities and women within the ranks of the organization, in October 
1993, Freeh appointed the first woman, the first man of Hispanic descent, 
and the second man of African-American descent to be named Assistant 
Director. These, and other changes, strengthened the FBI's traditionally 
high requirements for personal conduct and ethics, and established a 
"bright line" between what would be acceptable and what would not.

Director Freeh emphasized law enforcement cooperation as a necessary way 
to combat domestic and international crime. For example, Freeh was given a 
simultaneous appointment to serve as Director of the Department of 
Justice's new Office of Investigative Agency Policies. From this position, 
he has been able to work effectively with law enforcement agencies within 
the Department of Justice to develop close cooperation on criminal law 
enforcement issues, including sharing information on drug intelligence, 
automation, firearms, and aviation support. Internationally, the FBI had 
to meet the globalization of crime. For example, on June 7, 1999, the FBI 
placed Usama Bin Laden on the "Ten Most Wanted" List for his alleged 
involvement in the 1998 bombings of United States embassies in Africa.

The globalization of crime required international cooperation. In the 
summer of 1994, Freeh led a delegation of high-level diplomatic and 
federal law enforcement officials to meet with senior officials of 11 
European nations on international crime issues. Earlier, he traveled to 
Sicily to honor his late friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone, who had 
been killed in a bomb blast with his wife and three bodyguards the year 
before. On the steps of the Palatine Chapel of the Palace of the Normans, 
in the face of the Mafia presence, Freeh challenged the Sicilian people 
"to oppose them with your minds and hearts and the rule of law." This 
message was to be repeated and strengthened the following year in the new 
democratic capitals of Russia and Eastern Europe.

At the outset, Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, declared, 
"This is the evolving American foreign policy. Law Enforcement is at the 
forefront of our national interest in this part of the world." Meetings 
were held with officials of Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, the 
Slovak Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Ukraine, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, 
and Estonia. On July 4, 1994, Director Freeh officially announced the 
historic opening of an FBI Legal Attache Office in Moscow, the old seat of 
Russian communism. By the latter half of 2000, the FBI had Legats in other 
former-Soviet cities including Budapest, Hungary; Kiev, Ukraine; Warsaw, 
Poland; and Bucharest, Romania.

Subsequently, international leaders and law enforcement officials have 
focused on ways to strengthen security measures against possible theft of 
nuclear weapons and nuclear materials from Russia and other former 
republics of the Soviet Union. They have sharpened joint efforts against 
organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism. They have also strongly 
supported the FBI's efforts to institute standardized training of 
international police in investigative processes, ethics, leadership, and 
professionalism: in April 1995, the International Law Enforcement Academy 
opened its doors in Budapest, Hungary. Staffed by FBI and other law 
enforcement trainers, the academy offers five eight-week courses a year, 
based on the FBI's National Academy concept.

The FBI spearheaded initiatives to prepare for both domestic and foreign 
lawlessness in the 21st century. For example, the law enforcement made an 
effort to ensure its ability, in the face of telecommunications advances, 
to carry out court-authorized electronic surveillance in major 
investigations affecting public safety and national security. This ability 
was secured when Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law 
Enforcement Act in October 1994. In 1998, to combat cybercrime, the 
National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) was established. Located 
in FBI Headquarters, NIPC brings together representatives from U.S. 
government agencies, state and local government, and private enterprises 
to protect the nation's critical infrastructures.

Investigative efforts through the years 1993 to 1996 paid off in 
successful investigations as diverse as the World Trade Center bombing in 
New York City; the Oklahoma City bombing; the Archer Daniels Midland 
international price-fixing conspiracies; the attempted theft of Schering-
Plough and Merck pharmaceutical trade secrets; and the arrests of Mexican 
drug trafficker Juan Garcia-Abrego and Russian crime boss Vyacheslav 
Ivankov.

Congress further expanded the FBI's ability to investigate acts such as 
espionage, through the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, abortion clinic 
violence, through the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, 
and interstate stalking and spousal abuse, through part of the Violent 
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. In 1996, the Health 
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Economic Espionage 
Act were passed in the closing days of the 104th Session of Congress, then 
signed into law. These new statutes enabled the FBI to significantly 
strengthen its criminal programs in health care fraud and the theft of 
trade secrets and intellectual property.

Director Freeh initiated many changes to prepare for evolving criminal 
challenges, especially those challenges described in his FBI's Strategic 
Plan for 1998-2003. For example, he began construction of a new state-of-
the-art FBI forensic laboratory. He formed the Critical Incident Response 
Group to deal efficiently with crisis situations. He also initiated a 
comprehensive and integrated FBI response to nuclear, biological, and 
chemical (NBC) crisis incidents when the FBI was designated lead law 
enforcement agency in NBC investigations. In June 2001, FBI Director Freeh 
retired from federal government service. 

On September 4, 2001, Robert S. Mueller, III became the Director of the 
FBI. On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 
New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. In October, the FBI 
confronted another challenge: anthrax-laden letters. The FBI quickly 
committed all resources at its disposal to investigate the terrorist 
attacks, the anthax-laden letters, and to prevent future incidents. To 
meet these and future challenges, Director Mueller announced a 
reorganization of FBI Headquarters. 

The FBI's work on behalf of the American people is being carried out by 
some of the most dedicated and talented employees found anywhere in the 
world today. All are committed to combatting criminal activity through the 
Bureau's investigations, programs, and law enforcement services. They 
continue the mission of that first small group of Special Agents in 1908 
who established a tradition of service that has become the Bureau's motto: 
Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity.