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Bureau of Criminal Identification
The Department of Justice created a Bureau of Criminal Identification in order to provide a centralized reference collection of fingerprint cards. This aided in formulating evidence in a case and helped legitimize cases with evidence and identification of people. -
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. This was the very start of the FBI, but it was not yet what we cons -
Actual Creation
Attorney General Bonaparte appointed a force of special agents within the Department of Justice. Accordingly, 10 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. This was the actual creation of the FBI. -
New Law
Congress enacted a law preventing the Department of Justice from engaging Secret Service operatives. This allowed for Bonoparte to form the FBI, now that secret service operatives were no longer utilized by the Department of Justice. -
Chain of Command
Bonaparte ordered them to report to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch. This set up the chain of command in the FBI and this action is celebrated as the beginning of the FBI. -
World War I Influence
World War I began in Europe, placing additional responsibilities on the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), which was the forerunner of the FBI. This broadened the FBI’s responsibilities. -
Repsonsibilities Broadened
Congress declared war on Germany and President Woodrow Wilson authorized the BOI to detain enemy aliens. This broadened the FBI’s responsibilities. -
Espionage Act
Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917. The act forbade espionage, interference with the draft, or attempts to discourage loyalty. It greatly increased the BOI's ability to deal with espionage and subversion during the war, but a lack of personnel hampered Bureau efforts in enforcing the law. This broadened the FBI’s responsibilities. -
Period: to
The "Lawless Years"
called the "lawless years" because of gangsterism and the public disregard for Prohibition, which made it illegal to sell or import intoxicating beverages. -
Fingerprints
By 1922: Many large cities had started their own fingerprint collections. This allowed the use of more solid physical evidence and identification of people and criminals, especially with connections to crime evidence. -
Shared Database - Identification
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. In 1924, Congress was persuaded to merge the two collections in Washington, D.C., under Bureau of Investigation administration. This aided in identification. -
Fingerprint Cards
As a result, law enforcement agencies across the country began contributing fingerprint cards to the Bureau of Investigation by 1926. Through this better communication and data sharing, identification was easier and working together created positive outcomes. -
Crackdown on Credentials
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. He was trying to professionalize the FBI and ensure only qualified people were hired. This “cleaned up” the FBI. -
International
The Bureau initiated the international exchange of fingerprint data with friendly foreign governments. Because of the rise of tension in Europe, this program was halted in the late 1930s. It was not reinstituted until well after World War II. This is good for international criminals and for those who go between nations. -
Shared Responsibility
President Roosevelt assigned responsibility for investigating espionage, sabotage, and other subversive activities jointly to the FBI, the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department (MID), and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). This broadened the FBI’s responsibilities. -
Special Intelligence Service (SIS)
The FBI established a Special Intelligence Service (SIS). Under the SIS, the Bureau dispatched agents to countries throughout the Western Hemisphere. Agents gathered intelligence information and worked to prevent Axis espionage, sabotage, and propaganda efforts aimed against the United States and its allies. Some began acting in an official liaison capacity. This was the basis of the FBI's Legal Attaché (Legat) Program and strengthened a broad scope of the FBI with people physically dispersed. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. In response, the United States entered World War II. Hoover ordered existing FBI war plans put into effect and Attorney General Francis Biddle authorized the Bureau to act against dangerous enemy aliens. The FBI immediately went on a 24-hour schedule, and within 72 hours had taken 3,846 enemy aliens into custody. Seized contraband included short-wave radios, dynamite, weapons, and ammunition. This allowed the FBI to take enemy aliens into custody. -
Atomic Energy Act
Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act making the FBI responsible for investigating the backgrounds of persons who were to access restricted nuclear data. The FBI was also responsible for investigation of criminal violations of this act. This broadened the FBI’s responsibilities. -
Spying on Americans
The FBI gets flak for supposedly spying on American citizens. They get accused of planting bugs in people's homes and offices, tapping telephones, and even kidnapping people. Their image doesn't clear up until just recently. This influenced America’s view of the FBI and government in general. -
New Federal Laws
1960-1964: 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. 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. -
Economic Espionage Act
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Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Statute
1970s: 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. -
Comprehensive Crime Control Act
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Intergovernmental Relations - Federal Building Bomb
A truck bomb exploded the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Clinton designated the FBI as lead law enforcement agency, but the U.S. Marshals Service, the Treasury Department, and many other state and local agencies contributed to the investigation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also coordinated its efforts with the FBI, as did the armed forces, federal community mental health experts, and the General Services Administration. This set precedence for agencies to work together. -
Share Information - 9/11 Influence
Director Mueller ordered all FBI field offices to create joint terrorism task forces/regional terrorism task forces to coordinate counterterrorism efforts across the United States. This forced agencies to share information which created a better, more comprehensive intelligence as in the individual agencies and as a whole. -
USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening American by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act
Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. This provided the FBI with additional resources to hire new agents and critical support personnel, employ court approved wiretaps against potential terrorists more easily, seek additional information about potential terrorists more easily, share criminal investigative in other government officials, and work with other government agencies to secure our borders and attack international money laundering. This allowed to FBI to do their job better. -
Office of Intelligence (OI) Creation
An Office of Intelligence (OI) was created within the FBI's Counterterrorism Division (CTD). This structure and capability significantly enhanced our counterterrorism operations and those of our partners.