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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the most powerful government agency in the United States. Some telephone call it the largest police enforcement agency in the world. In its 100-yr history, the agency has been at the eye of several infamous cases -- some successful, some controversial. In the age of terrorism, the FBI is as complicated and powerful as e'er.

In this article, nosotros'll find out what the FBI does, how it started, and how y'all can go an FBI agent. We'll take a look at some of the tools and techniques used past the FBI, and we'll acquire about J. Edgar Hoover, the human being who molded the Bureau into a powerful law-breaking-solving agency.

The FBI is the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, and its specific mission is constantly evolving. Currently, the FBI's focus is on stopping terrorism, corruption, organized offense, cyber crime and ceremonious rights violations, also as investigating serious crimes such as major thefts or murders. They also assist other police enforcement agencies when needed. Crimes that specifically fall under FBI jurisdiction include those in which the criminal crossed state lines, violations of federal controlled substance laws, and other violations of federal laws.

According to its Web site:

The official mission of the FBI is to uphold the police force through the investigation of violations of federal criminal law; to protect the Us from foreign intelligence and terrorist activities; to provide leadership and law enforcement help to federal, land, local, and international agencies; and to perform these responsibilities in a manner that is responsive to the needs of the public and is faithful to the Constitution of the United States.

To dispel some myths about the FBI, here are some things that it doesn't do:

It is not a national police; state and local law enforcement agencies are not subservient to the FBI. It'due south merely a unlike jurisdiction for different kinds of crimes.
It doesn't "have over" cases from local agencies. If a crime partly involves FBI jurisdiction, or if it is serious enough to require FBI involvement, then the FBI forms a chore force in which agents volition work closely with land and local law.
The FBI does not prosecute cases. It provides investigative information to The states attorneys, who then use that information to decide whether to prosecute.

FBI agents tin can deport firearms, and their utilise is restricted by the same rules that restrict all other law enforcement offices in the U.Due south. Deadly forcefulness can only be used when necessary to preclude death or injury to the agent or others. Agents cannot wiretap suspects (utilise electronic ways to mind in on telephone conversations) without receiving a courtroom order. To get a court gild, they take to prove likely cause that the doubtable is engaged in an illegal activeness, and that a wiretap volition help them proceeds crucial information. A federal judge must approve and monitor the tap. Wiretapping without a court order is a felony.

Construction of the FBI

**The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building**
Epitome courtesy CIA

The FBI is part of the U.South. Department of Justice, which is headed by the U.Due south. Attorney General. The FBI exists nether the Attorney General's say-so to create investigative agents for the enforcement of federal laws (Sections 533 and 534, Championship 28 of the U.Due south. Code). However, the Attorney General doesn't exercise direct authority over the FBI itself -- that's the task of the Inspector General. Earlier 2002, the Inspector Full general could investigate the FBI, but only with the permission of the Chaser General. In the wake of several scandals in 2001, including the revelation that FBI agent Robert Hanssen had been selling U.S. secrets to the Soviets for 15 years, Congress gave the Inspector Full general more than oversight power [ref].

The President appoints the director of the FBI for a 10-year term. The current director is Robert S. Mueller, Three. In that location are several deputy directors beneath him, and an executive assistant director heads each of the eleven divisions of the FBI. These divisions generally coincide with a type of crime the FBI investigates. For instance, in that location is a counterterrorism sectionalisation, a criminal investigation partitioning and an information technology division.

The FBI is headquartered in the J. Edgar Hoover Edifice in Washington, D.C. Opened in 1974, the massive bunker-like building houses the managing director, nigh section heads and the globe-famous FBI Criminal offense Lab. (The FBI building bout is currently closed for renovations, merely tours are scheduled to resume in Spring 2007.) FBI Field offices are located in most major cities -- at that place are 56 in total. A Special Agent in Charge heads each field office. An banana director heads exceptionally large field offices in New York and Los Angeles. In add-on, the FBI has near 400 resident agencies in smaller cities or other areas where an FBI presence is required.

The FBI's Organization — **The FBI'south Organisation**

Every bit of March 31, 2006, the FBI employed more xxx,000 people, comprising 12,515 agents, and 17,485 support personnel, lab technicians and administrators. In the past, the FBI was considered an unfriendly place for women and minorities. In 1972, the FBI did not have a single female person agent, and only a small pct were minorities [ref]. Today, more than than 13,000 FBI employees are women, with 7,691 minorities and over ane,000 people with disabilities [ref].

FBI funding is part of the Section of Justice and comes from the overall federal budget. In 2003, the FBI's total budget was $4.298 billion [ref].

Next, we'll learn near the history of the FBI.

FBI History

The Department of Justice has always had the power to investigate federal crimes, but it didn't always take the means to do so. In the 19th century, government agencies often hired private detective firms such as the Pinkertons to solve crimes [ref]. In 1908, Illegal land sales in the western United States angered President Theodore Roosevelt, who so gave Chaser General Charles J. Bonaparte the authorisation to create a modest agency of detectives to investigate these crimes. Past 1909, they were given an official name: The Agency of Investigation.

Initially, very few crimes were under the Bureau'south jurisdiction. Land fraud, national banking concern scams, anti-trust crimes and criminals who crossed land lines were under the Bureau's purview. Over the adjacent decade, new laws expanded the scope of the federal government to investigate national crimes, and the number of agents increased as well. During World War I, agents focused on stopping espionage and demolition, and smashing downwards on men who avoided the typhoon. By the 1920s, there were more than than 300 agents and 300 support personnel operating a growing number of field offices [ref].

Until the early 1920s, unprofessional agents who were poorly trained and unqualified for their jobs plagued the Agency of Investigation. Politics was a strong influence, and agents could be easily bribed to overlook crimes. Agents sometimes gathered incriminating information to discredit political opponents [ref, ref]. All that began to modify in 1924, when Attorney Full general Harlan Fiske Rock elevated 29-year-quondam Assistant Director J. Edgar Hoover to the function of Director. Hoover immediately began reviewing procedures and agent records. He personally reviewed every agent's file, and was amazed at how many agents were on staff solely because of political connections or favors. He fired more than 100 of them within a few months [ref]. So, Hoover raised the standards for hiring new agents, requiring college educations and law enforcement experience. He created rules and regulations for agent acquit and investigative procedure, ensuring that Bureau activity would be uniform across the nation. Equally Hoover put information technology, "We all should exist concerned with but one goal -- the eradication of crime."

Hoover was also responsible for many reforms in the field of criminal investigation. He created the FBI Criminal offence Lab in 1932, and opened a training academy in 1935, the same twelvemonth the Bureau became the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This academy trained FBI agents besides every bit numerous local and state police officers. Another Hoover innovation was the 10 Most Wanted list. Created in 1950, this listing provides photos and data on the ten fugitives (in no particular club) the FBI most wants to catch, and is posted in public places such every bit post offices. As of 2002, 458 people had been shown on the list, and 429 had been captured. Today, the Ten Almost Wanted list is available online.

Through World War II and into the Cold War, the FBI continued to accept on new duties under Hoover's guidance. The Bureau investigated High german and Japanese spies during the war and rooted out Communists in the mail-state of war years. The FBI's priorities changed over again in the wake of the 9/11 attacks; at present, counterterrorism is a top priority. The Agency tracks known terrorists and cooperates with other agencies, such equally the CIA, and intelligence and law enforcement agencies from other countries to gather data. Different many other government agencies, the FBI was not folded into the Department of Homeland Security -- it continues to operate within the Department of Justice.

J. Edgar Hoover

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover amassed a lot of political ability during his tenure -- much of information technology caused by using the FBI to intimidate and gather incriminating information virtually his opponents. In his exposé of FBI corruption, "The Bureau," author Diarmuid Jeffreys wrote, "It was rumored that the managing director [Hoover] had detailed information virtually the sexual, political, and financial indiscretions of some of the country's near powerful and famous people and that he had used this data to blackmail his fashion to ability and influence." Hoover remained in his position as FBI Director until his death, although several presidents considered firing him.

Later Hoover's death in 1972, some of his personal files were transferred to former agent Mark Felt, the human being who was subsequently revealed as "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal. The files contained gossip on entertainers, intimidating letters sent to Martin Luther King, Jr., allegations that sure political candidates were homosexual, and documentation of illegal FBI wiretapping [ref]. Hoover's controversial (and mostly illegal) COINTELPRO operation targeted so-called radical groups that protested the Vietnam War or worked for civil rights, alongside other groups that promoted tearing overthrow of the government.

At times, Hoover'south bulldoze to root out subversives within the United States bordered on paranoia. In a 1966 magazine interview, he proclaimed that American was threatened past "a new style in conspiracy -- conspiracy that is extremely subtle and devious and hence difficult to empathize. A conspiracy reflected by questionable moods and attitudes, by unrestrained individualism, by nonconformism in dress and spoken communication, even by obscene linguistic communication, rather than by formal membership in specific organizations" [ref].

Both in life and in decease, persistent rumors pegged Hoover as a securely closeted homosexual and cantankerous-dresser, and that proof was in the hands of the Mafia. Yet, solid bear witness of these allegations has never been institute.

Next, we'll learn about some of the investigative methods and tools used past the FBI.

FBI Divisions and Methods

Because the FBI's mission continues to evolve and has such a wide scope, it has developed many different divisions to process information and handle incidents. A few of these include the Criminal Justice Information Services Segmentation (CJIS), the Laboratory Division (or "Criminal offense Lab"), the Behavioral Analysis Unit and the Hostage Rescue Team. Let'south look at each of these divisions in detail.

The Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) is the largest division within the FBI. This makes sense considering the drove, assay and comparing of offense scene data is some of the FBI's nigh important work. The CJIS comprises several programs, including the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification Organization (IAFIS). The IAFIS contains the fingerprints of more than 47 meg subjects and is the largest database of its kind in the globe. The CJIS besides includes the National Criminal offence Data Center (NCIC). It stores detailed information on crimes committed beyond the Us, regardless of which system originally investigated the crime. Law enforcement agencies at the national, state and local levels tin admission both the IAFIS and the information contained in the NCIC, helping them identify criminals who may move from place to place past spotting patterns and similarities between crimes.

Police force enforcement agencies can also use the services of the Laboratory Division. As i of the largest forensic laboratories in the world, the FBI Crime Lab has conducted more than one meg forensic examinations and pioneers new techniques in forensic analysis. The laboratory conducts forensic investigations on all types of physical testify, including DNA, claret, hair, fibers, latent fingerprints, documents, handwriting and firearms. Police enforcement agencies tin can likewise receive training from the Lab'south Forensic Science Research and Preparation Center (FSRTC) at the FBI University. Laboratory examiners provide expert testimony in court cases that deal with forensic evidence.

The FBI has been a pioneer in the technique of criminal investigative analysis (sometimes called "profiling"), conducted by the staff of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. According to the partition's Web site, criminal investigative analysis "is a process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective." Trained profilers wait at the prove and circumstances surrounding a law-breaking or serial of crimes and create a profile that describes various aspects of the suspect's personality. Gender, age, level of education, types of jobs and other elements can narrow investigations and help agents prioritize leads. Geographical profiling helps as well -- in this technique, profilers feed information about the locations of crimes into a figurer, which creates an "surface area of interest" for investigators to focus on [ref]. Profilers crave about a twelvemonth of in-depth training, and an bookish background in psychology or another social science is helpful. However, the almost important trait of an FBI profiler is extensive feel working on investigations.

The FBI besides has one of the tiptop hostage rescue teams in the world -- the Hostage Rescue Team, a part of the Tactical Support Co-operative of the Critical Incident Response Grouping. Initially, the HRT was a tactical rescue unit outfitted like a SWAT team. Their job was to end a hostage situation with the use of force. The Hostage Negotiation Unit was divide, and was supposed to try resolving hostage situations peacefully before the HRT went in. An adversarial human relationship grew betwixt the two units, culminating in the controversial Cherry Ridge incident. In 1992, U.S. Marshalls were in a collision with a heavily armed family in rural Idaho. The FBI went in, but the HRT acted contrary to communication from experienced negotiators and ordered snipers to fire on the family unit earlier the negotiators had a risk to cease things peacefully. Snipers killed the mother of the family unit [ref]. In response to this and other incidents, the FBI created the Disquisitional Incident Response Group, which combines the Crisis Negotiation Unit and the HRT into a single group with a single commander.

Following September xi, 2001, FBI Director Robert Mueller ordered operational and organizational changes to support changes in the FBI's focus: "prevention of terrorist attacks, countering foreign intelligence operations against the U.S., and addressing cybercrime-based attacks and other high-engineering crimes" [ref]. The organization is also working on technological upgrades to meet these changes and provide stronger support to federal, state and local agencies.

For lots more than information on the FBI and related topics, bank check out the links that follow.

Lots More than Information

Sources

Breuer, William B. "J.Edgar Hoover and His One thousand-Men." Praeger Publishers, 1995. 0275949907.
De Capua, Sarah. "The FBI." Children's Printing, 2002. 0516226916.
Hargrove, Jim. "The Story of the FBI." Children's Printing, 1988. 0516447335.
January, Brendan. The FBI. Franklin Watts, 2003. 0531166015.
Jeffreys, Diarmuid. "The Agency." Replica Books, 2001. 0735101361.
MacFarland, Margo. "House and Senate conferees concur on FBI oversight." GovExec.com, September 20, 2002. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0902/092002njns1.htm
McCrary, Gregg. "The Maryland and D.C. shootings: Former FBI profiler Gregg McCrary." Us Today, Oct 7, 2002. http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/2002-10-07-mccrary.htm
"Wanted by the FBI." http://www.fbi.gov/wanted.htm
"Objective of the Firearms Grooming Unit of measurement." https://world wide web.fbijobs.gov/PreQuanticoKit/chapter04.htm
FBI FAQ. http://www.fbi.gov/aboutus/faqs/faqsone.htm
FBI Facts and Figures. http://www.fbi.gov/priorities/priorities.htm
The FBI Academy. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/td/academy/academy.htm
Federal Bureau of Investigation: History. http://world wide web.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/fbi_hist.htm
FBI Laboratory. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/labhome.htm