I.
INRODUCTION
II. History
III. Modern Use
Types of Fingerprints
Human fingerprint patterns fall into three main groups: whorls, loops, and arches.
Loops are the most common type, accounting for about 65 percent of all fingerprints.
Whorls account for 30 percent of fingerprints, and arches for 5 percent. Despite these
broad patterns, each individual has a unique set of fingerprints, which can be used as a
means of personal identification.
Fingerprinting
I INTRODUCTION
Fingerprinting, method of identification using the impression made by the minute ridge
formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two persons have exactly the same
arrangement of ridge patterns, and the patterns of any one individual remain
unchanged through life. To obtain a set of fingerprints, the ends of the fingers are inked
and then pressed or rolled one by one on some receiving surface. Fingerprints may be
classified and filed on the basis of the ridge patterns, setting up an identification system
that is almost infallible.
II HISTORY
The first recorded use of fingerprints was by the ancient Assyrians and Chinese for the
signing of legal documents.
Probably the first modern study of fingerprints was made by the Czech physiologist
Johannes Evangelista Purkinje, who in 1823 proposed a system of classification that
attracted little attention. The use of fingerprints for identification purposes was
proposed late in the 19th century by the British scientist Sir Francis Galton, who wrote a
detailed study of fingerprints in which he presented a new classification system using
prints of all ten fingers, which is the basis of identification systems still in use. In the
1890s the police in Bengal, India, under the British police official Sir Edward Richard
Henry, began using fingerprints to identify criminals. As assistant commissioner of
metropolitan police, Henry established the first British fingerprint files in London in
1901. Subsequently, the use of fingerprinting as a means for identifying criminals spread
rapidly throughout Europe and the United States, superseding the old Bertillon system
of identification by means of body measurements.
III MODERN USE
As crime-detection methods improved, law enforcement officers found that any smooth,
hard surface touched by a human hand would yield fingerprints made by the oily
secretion present on the skin. When these so-called latent prints were dusted with
powder or chemically treated, the identifying fingerprint pattern could be seen and
photographed or otherwise preserved. Today, law enforcement agencies can also use
computers to digitally record fingerprints and to transmit them electronically to other
agencies for comparison. By comparing fingerprints at the scene of a crime with the
fingerprint record of suspected persons, officials can establish absolute proof of the
presence or identity of a person.
The confusion and inefficiency caused by the establishment of many separate
fingerprint archives in the United States led the federal government to set up a central
agency in 1924, the Identification Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
This division was absorbed in 1993 by the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services
Division. Currently, the FBI has on file about 250 million sets of fingerprints
representing about 74 million people (both criminal and civilian), the largest collection
in the world. These fingerprints are stored as digital images in the FBI’s Integrated
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), a computerized system that
began full operation in 1999. The system also stores each individual’s criminal history if
one exists. Using IAFIS, authorities can conduct automated searches to identify people
from their fingerprints and determine whether they have a criminal record. The system
also gives state and local law enforcement agencies the ability to electronically transmit
fingerprint information to the FBI. The implementation of IAFIS represented a
breakthrough in crimefighting by reducing the time needed for fingerprint identification
from weeks to minutes or hours.
DNA FINGERPRINTING
DNA Fingerprinting, method of identification that compares fragments of deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) It is sometimes called DNA typing. DNA is the genetic material found within the cell
nuclei of all living things. In mammals the strands of DNA are grouped into structures called
chromosomes. With the exception of identical twins, the complete DNA of each individual is
unique.
A DNA fingerprint is constructed by first extracting a DNA sample from body tissue or fluid
such as hair, blood, or saliva. The sample is then segmented using enzymes, and the segments are
arranged by size using a process called electrophoresis. The segments are marked with probes
and exposed on X-ray film, where they form a characteristic pattern of black bars—the DNA
fingerprint. If the DNA fingerprints produced from two different samples match, the two samples
probably came from the same person.
DNA fingerprinting was first developed as an identification technique in 1985. Originally used to
detect the presence of genetic diseases, DNA fingerprinting soon came to be used in criminal
investigations and forensic science. The first criminal conviction based on DNA evidence in the
United States occurred in 1988. In criminal investigations, DNA fingerprints derived from
evidence collected at the crime scene are compared to the DNA fingerprints of suspects. The
DNA evidence can implicate or exonerate a suspect.
Generally, courts have accepted the reliability of DNA testing and admitted DNA test results into
evidence. However, DNA fingerprinting is controversial in a number of areas: the accuracy of
the results, the cost of testing, and the possible misuse of the technique.
The accuracy of DNA fingerprinting has been challenged for several reasons. First, because
DNA segments rather than complete DNA strands are “fingerprinted,” a DNA fingerprint may
not be unique; large-scale research to confirm the uniqueness of DNA fingerprinting test results
has not been conducted. In addition, DNA fingerprinting is often performed in private
laboratories that may not follow uniform testing standards and quality controls. Also, since
human beings must interpret the test, human error could lead to false results. DNA fingerprinting
is expensive. Suspects who are unable to provide their own DNA experts may not be able to
adequately defend themselves against charges based on DNA evidence.
In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has created a national database of
genetic information called the National DNA Index System. The database contains DNA
obtained from convicted criminals and from evidence found at crime scenes. Some experts fear
that this database might be used for unauthorized purposes, such as identifying individuals with
stigmatizing illnesses such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Federal Bureau of Investigation
I INTRODUCTION
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), chief investigative agency of the United States federal government and a division of the
U.S. Department of Justice. The FBI is charged with investigating violations of most federal criminal laws and with protecting
the United States from foreign intelligence and terrorist activities. It also provides services to other law enforcement agencies,
including fingerprint identification, laboratory analysis of criminal evidence, police training, and access to a centralized crime
information database. Because of its broad mandate, the FBI is one of the most powerful and controversial agencies in the
government. The bureau traces its origins to 1908, when the attorney general appointed a small group of investigators within the
Department of Justice.
II STRUCTURE
Structure of the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has 11 divisions at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. They provide support to 56 field offices,
about 400 smaller offices known as resident agencies, and 44 foreign liaison offices.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
The FBI has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The agency is led by the FBI director, who reports to the attorney general of
the United States. The director is nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. The
director may serve a maximum term of ten years. By tradition, the director of the FBI is not replaced when a new president takes
office.
The FBI has 56 field offices located in major U.S. cities and one field office in Puerto Rico. The field offices, in turn, oversee
approximately 400 satellite offices in smaller cities and towns known as resident agencies. Outside the United States, the FBI has
44 foreign liaison offices, also called legal attaché offices, or legats for short.
The FBI has about 28,000 employees. Nearly 12,000 are special agents, who have the authority to make arrests and use firearms.
The rest are professional support personnel, a category that includes chemists, psychologists, language specialists, computer
specialists, attorneys, clerical workers, and many other types of employees. The FBI’s annual budget is approximately $3 billion
dollars and is appropriated by the Congress of the United States.
FBI headquarters comprises 13 divisions: the Administrative Services Division, the Counterintelligence Division, the
Counterterrorism Division, the Criminal Investigative Division, the Criminal Justice Information Services Division, the
Cybercrime Division, the Finance Division, the Information Resources Division, the Investigative Technologies Division, the
Laboratory Division, the Records Management Division, the Security Division, and the Training Division. An assistant director
heads each division, and four executive assistant directors supervise groups of divisions. The headquarters also includes a number
of offices, including the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs, the Office of Professional Responsibility, the Office of the
General Counsel, and the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.
III JURISDICTION AND INVESTIGATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
Raid by FBI Agents
Outfitted with body armor, assault rifles, and submachine guns, this team of FBI agents prepares to subdue a riot in a federal penitentiary in
Atlanta, Georgia, in 1987.
John Dickerson/Corbis
The FBI has the broadest jurisdiction (investigative authority) of all federal law enforcement agencies. It is authorized to
investigate all federal criminal violations that the United States Congress has not specifically assigned to other federal agencies. It
may investigate other matters at the request of the president or attorney general of the United States, or if authorized under a law
passed by Congress. This mandate stands in contrast to other federal law enforcement agencies, which have narrower missions.
For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) enforces federal drug laws, and the Secret Service investigates
counterfeiting and protects the president and vice president and their families.
The FBI investigates hundreds of different federal crimes, including organized crime, drug trafficking, espionage, terrorism, bank
robbery, extortion, racketeering, and kidnapping. The agency is responsible for investigating federal civil rights violations, such
as police brutality, housing discrimination, and racial violence. The FBI also investigates so-called white-collar crimes, such as
money laundering, bank fraud and embezzlement, corruption in local and state government, election-law violations,
environmental crimes, and computer-related crimes. Additionally, it handles cases involving threats or actual violence against the
president, vice president, and members of Congress. In all cases, the FBI presents the results of its investigations to federal
prosecutors in the Justice Department, who decide whether to prosecute suspects in the federal courts.
In conducting investigations, the FBI frequently works with local, state, federal, and international law enforcement organizations.
For example, the FBI works with the Central Intelligence Agency to prevent foreign spies from obtaining U.S. national security
secrets. It also works with the DEA in drug cases and with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in certain
cases involving bombs, arson, or firearms violations. Criminal activities often cross state and country borders. As a national law
enforcement agency, the FBI is best equipped to investigate them. It investigates interstate criminal activity and can arrest
fugitives who cross state lines to avoid prosecution. Although the FBI is not usually authorized to make arrests in foreign
countries, the agency works with law enforcement agencies abroad to apprehend suspects wanted for crimes in U.S. jurisdictions.
The FBI also conducts noncriminal inquiries. It researches the backgrounds of U.S. Supreme Court nominees, Cabinet nominees,
and other presidential appointees to help the U.S. Senate decide if these candidates should be confirmed. It also conducts
background checks on people who apply for employment at the FBI, Justice Department, White House, Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, and certain other government agencies. Finally, the FBI may collect evidence in civil suits involving the United
States government.
Among functions specifically excluded from the jurisdiction of the FBI are investigations of counterfeiting, which are handled by
the Secret Service, and violations of customs and revenue laws, which are handled by the United States Customs Service.
Violations of postal laws, which are under the jurisdiction of the United States Postal Service, are also excluded from the
jurisdiction of the FBI. Intelligence activities aimed at foreign countries, related to the national security of the United States, are
generally carried out by the CIA. However, the FBI does investigate terrorism outside of the United States when directed against
U.S. citizens or interests, such as U.S. embassies.
IV FBI AGENTS
Trainees at the FBI Academy
Agents-in-training rappel off of a building at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. New recruits at the academy undergo 17 weeks of training
in firearms use, defensive tactics, and other skills required by FBI special agents.
Patrick Adventurier/Liaison Agency
FBI special agents are responsible for conducting investigations. They perform their duties mainly from the field offices located
around the country, guided by supervisors in the field offices and at headquarters. Agents are responsible for gathering
information and evidence about possible criminal activity that may be used by federal prosecutors in court.
To carry out their duties, FBI agents are entrusted with extremely broad powers. They are authorized to carry weapons and, under
some circumstances, to shoot to kill. They can place suspects under arrest. With permission of the courts, they can eavesdrop on
private phone conversations, videotape what goes on in people’s homes, open mailboxes and read mail, and obtain telephone
bills, income tax returns, and other confidential documents. They can also subpoena witnesses to testify before a grand jury.
While pursuing suspects, they are authorized to break traffic laws. By showing their credentials, FBI agents can bypass airport
security and take weapons onto airplanes. If necessary, they can request help from the CIA, the International Criminal Police
Organization (Interpol), and foreign governments. But unless agents are on bureau business and have proper authorization, they
have no more power than any other citizens.
Special FBI units sometimes assist agents in especially dangerous or unusual situations. The Critical Incident Response Group is
deployed during terrorist incidents, hostage situations, and major crimes that require emergency action. The Hostage Rescue
Team develops and executes tactical plans to rescue hostages, negotiate with barricaded individuals, and assist in high-risk arrests
and raids.
People seeking employment as special agents must be U.S. citizens at least 23 years old but no older than 36. To qualify for
training, applicants must have a four-year degree from a college or university. The agency prefers those with law or accounting
degrees because they can more easily understand federal criminal laws and financial crimes, respectively. It also admits
applicants with expertise in languages and those with a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of relevant work experience. All
prospective agents must have a valid driver’s license and pass a polygraph examination, a drug test, a vision test, a hearing test,
and a comprehensive background check. Applicants must also be in excellent physical condition. New agents undergo 17 weeks
of intensive training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where they learn about federal law, crime investigation, firearms
use, defensive tactics, and other subjects. Periodically, agents return to the academy for in-service training on the latest
techniques in law enforcement.
V LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES
As the largest law enforcement agency in the United States, the FBI plays a central and indispensable role in assisting local, state,
federal, and international law enforcement agencies. This assistance includes fingerprint identification, laboratory analysis of
criminal evidence, criminal profiling, police training, maintenance of a central crime information database, and publication of
crime statistics.
A Fingerprint Identification
Fingerprint Analysis
Storing fingerprint records in computers has made it much easier for the FBI to identify latent fingerprints—fingerprints left at the scene of a
crime.
Philippe Plailly/Science Photo Library/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Every person has a unique set of fingerprints, a fact that allows police officers to identify suspected criminals from fingerprints
found at a crime scene. The FBI serves as the central repository for fingerprint records in the United States. It has on file about
250 million sets of fingerprints representing about 74 million people (both criminal and civilian), the largest collection in the
world. These fingerprints are stored in digital form in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).
Using this system, law enforcement agencies submit fingerprint images electronically; IAFIS searches its huge database for a
match and responds with an identification if one exists. The identification process takes less than two hours, instead of the weeks
required under the previous semiautomated system.
Types of Fingerprints
Human fingerprint patterns fall into three main groups: whorls, loops, and arches. Loops are the most common type, accounting for about 65
percent of all fingerprints. Whorls account for 30 percent of fingerprints, and arches for 5 percent. Despite these broad patterns, each individual
has a unique set of fingerprints, which can be used as a means of personal identification.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
In addition to conducting fingerprint identification for law enforcement, the FBI processes requests from other organizations
when required by law. For example, FBI fingerprint checks may be required of people applying for employment as a teacher,
child-care provider, or government worker. About half of all fingerprint checks are noncriminal.
The FBI’s fingerprint collection began in 1924 with about 810,000 sets of arrest fingerprints. These were consolidated from the
Justice Department’s fingerprint collection, maintained at a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, and from the collection of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police. In the following years, as local and state law enforcement agencies forwarded
fingerprint records to the FBI, its criminal identification data increased greatly. In 1932 the FBI began exchanging identification
data with the law enforcement agencies of more than 80 foreign countries and with agencies in U.S. territories.
B FBI Laboratory
DNA Fingerprinting
DNA fingerprinting can help investigators identify the suspect in a crime. The horizontal pattern of lines represents a person's genetic makeup. In
the sample shown, suspect S2 matches the evidence, blood sample E(vs).
Leonard Lessin/Peter Arnold, Inc.
The FBI Laboratory, founded in 1932, analyzes physical evidence submitted by FBI agents and by other law enforcement
agencies to help solve crimes. It uses the most sophisticated investigative tools and methods known to law enforcement, many of
which it pioneered. The laboratory employs specialists trained in many branches of science and in methods of scientific crime
detection. They examine bullets, weapons, bloodstains, human and animal hair and skin, textile fibers, soils, rocks, metals, and
many other forms of evidence. These specialists often serve as expert witnesses in trials, explaining the methodology and results
of their analysis.
FBI Laboratory technicians use chemicals, powders, lasers, and special light sources to find and enhance fingerprints, tire
impressions, shoeprints, and other characteristic marks that can link suspects to crime scenes. Other specialists identify forged
letters and documents by analyzing handwriting, identifying impressions in the surface of paper, and determining the origins of a
document’s ink and paper. The FBI Laboratory also analyzes photographs, financial records, firearms, and explosives and their
residues.
Another important laboratory function is the analysis of dioxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in bodily fluids and tissues, a procedure
called DNA fingerprinting. By identifying the DNA profile of blood, semen, saliva, or hair found at the crime scene and
comparing it to the DNA profile of the suspect, laboratory scientists can determine with a high degree of likelihood whether the
suspect was at the crime scene. The FBI Laboratory’s National DNA Index System allows U.S. crime laboratories to
electronically compare DNA profiles with those from convicted criminals and from biological evidence in unsolved cases.
C Criminal Profiling
The FBI’s profiling unit, part of its National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, advises law enforcement officers, most
often local police investigators, in cases of unsolved serial and violent crimes. These crimes may include serial murders and
rapes, individual homicides, child abductions, arsons, bombings, product tamperings, and vicious or unusual crimes. By using
behavioral science research and computer models, profilers can often predict the characteristics and behavior of an unknown
criminal suspect. For example, a profiler may infer that the person who committed a murder is probably between the ages of 25
and 35, lives within a few blocks of the victim, likes to hunt and fish, and drives a sport utility vehicle. This technique, portrayed
in the movie The Silence of the Lambs (1991), has led to the apprehension of hundreds of serial killers and rapists. Profilers at the
center also conduct research on criminal thought processes, motivations, and behaviors.
D Police Training
The FBI National Academy, founded in 1935 and located at the same facility as the FBI Academy, offers advanced training to
selected mid- and executive-level officers from local, state, and foreign police departments. An 11-week course covers leadership
and management skills, law, communications, forensic science, and health and fitness. At the FBI Academy and at police schools
across the country, the FBI offers hundreds of specialized courses on hostage negotiation, firearms, fingerprints, criminal
psychology, computer crime, arson, and other topics.
The FBI serves as the lead agency in directing activities at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary,
opened in 1995. Instructors from a wide range of U.S. and international law enforcement agencies train police officers from
emerging democracies in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and other parts of Eastern Europe. Courses focus on police
professionalism, ethics, criminal investigation, and the rule of law. FBI instructors also participate in the International Law
Enforcement Academy in Bangkok, Thailand, launched in 1999 for police officers from Southeast Asia and China. Training
focuses on illicit drug trafficking, financial crimes, smuggling of illegal aliens, and transnational investigations.
The FBI publishes FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin for law enforcement agencies in the United States. The monthly magazine,
founded in 1932, features information on the latest issues in law enforcement operations and administration.
E National Crime Information Center
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC), located in Clarksburg, West Virginia, is a computerized database of information
on crime and criminals. It serves as the nucleus of a vast communications network that includes local, state, and federal law
enforcement agencies throughout the United States. Designed to complement metropolitan and statewide electronic systems, it
makes available in a few seconds data essential for effective law enforcement. The NCIC database contains information on
criminal histories, missing persons, fugitives and wanted persons, stolen vehicles and license plates, stolen guns, and other data.
It also contains mugshots, images of stolen property, and prints of right index fingers. Most patrol officers can access NCIC data
directly via computer terminals in their squad cars. The NCIC system handles about 2 million inquiries per day, 99 percent of
which are initiated by local, state, and federal agencies other than the FBI. The FBI also operates the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NICS), which interfaces with the NCIC. The NICS performs background checks on people seeking
to purchase firearms. These checks are intended to prevent the sale of firearms to felons, fugitives, illegal aliens, and certain other
people.
In addition to maintaining fugitive information in the NCIC, the FBI has since 1950 widely publicized its “Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives,” a list of particularly dangerous fugitives. The bureau publicizes these and other fugitives on its Web site, on the radio,
and on the television program America’s Most Wanted. The FBI has captured many fugitives as a result of this publicity.
F Crime Statistics
Since 1930, the FBI has served as a national clearinghouse for crime statistics through its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)
program. Law enforcement agencies throughout the United States forward data monthly and annually to the FBI on the following
crimes: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle
theft, and arson. Agencies also report hate crimes, the overall number of people arrested, and the characteristics of those arrested.
The FBI publishes the statistics annually in the Uniform Crime Reports Bulletin. Although the Bulletin was created as a service
for law enforcement agencies, it is now used by sociologists, legislators, city planners, and the media as an indicator of the crime
rate.
VI HISTORY
A Founding and Early Years
J. Edgar Hoover
Under director J. Edgar Hoover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gained renown for arresting gangsters in the 1930s and apprehending
Axis spies during World War II (1939-1945). After the war, Hoover turned his attention to what he believed was the growing threat of
Communism. In this 1947 testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, a committee of the House of Representatives,
Hoover reveals his view that Communists are dangerous enemies of the country.
Archive Photos/Courtesy of the Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved.
The agency that eventually became the FBI was founded on July 26, 1908, when U.S. attorney general Charles J. Bonaparte
appointed Stanley W. Finch to head a new, unnamed investigative division within the Department of Justice. The division started
with 34 special agents, 10 of whom were former Secret Service employees. It was named the Bureau of Investigation in 1909.
The agency took its present name, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1935.
In its early years, the agency’s jurisdiction was limited because most crimes were handled by local law enforcement agencies. Its
investigative responsibilities included antitrust violations, bankruptcy fraud, postal fraud, violation of federal banking laws,
destruction of government property, and certain crimes on Native American reservations. In 1910 Congress expanded the
bureau’s jurisdiction by passing the White Slave Traffic Act (Mann Act), which made it a federal crime to transport girls or
women across state lines for prostitution or other immoral purposes. The Motor Vehicle Theft Act (Dyer Act) of 1919
empowered the bureau to investigate whenever stolen automobiles were taken across state lines. These laws gave the bureau
additional ways to combat organized crime and to investigate criminals who eluded local police by crossing state lines.
During World War I (1914-1918), Congress charged the bureau with investigating sabotage, espionage, and violations of draft
laws and with conducting wartime counterintelligence efforts against the Central Powers. After the war, heightened concerns
about foreign sabotage and internal security led to the “Red Scare” of 1919 and 1920. In 1919 Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer created the General Intelligence Division (GID) to investigate American radicals. Led by a Justice Department attorney
named J. Edgar Hoover, the GID targeted anarchists, Communists, trade union activists, civil rights activists, and foreign resident
agitators. In the so-called Palmer Raids of January 2 and 6, 1920, special agents and local police arrested thousands of
Communists and suspected sympathizers across the country. However, the bureau came under sharp criticism when an
independent review uncovered a range of abuses during the raids, including illegal searches and seizures, warrantless arrests,
denial of legal counsel, and poor detainment conditions.
B Hoover’s Reforms
John Dillinger
One of the most notorious gangsters of the 1930s, John Dillinger became the object of an intense manhunt following his stunning escape in
March 1934 from a heavily guarded jail in Crown Point, Indiana. Left, Dillinger poses with a revolver and a submachine gun shortly after his
escape. Right, a June 1934 reward poster offers $10,000 for Dillinger’s capture and $5,000 for information leading to his arrest. Dillinger was
killed in Chicago in July 1934 by agents from the Bureau of Investigation, now known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Corbis
In 1924 Hoover, by then assistant director of the FBI, was named director, and he instituted a series of reforms to restore
professionalism and public support for the agency. By firing employees he considered unqualified and carefully choosing
replacements, Hoover built a cadre of quality agents. He instituted many innovations in law enforcement, such as extensive
training for agents and systematized reporting and filing of information. He also pioneered the use of scientific analysis as a tool
of law enforcement, establishing the Technical Laboratory (now called the FBI Laboratory) in 1932. Hoover required agents to
advise suspects of their rights when they were arrested, long before the Supreme Court’s 1966 decision in the Miranda v. Arizona
case imposed the same requirement upon other American law enforcement agencies. During Hoover’s early years as director, the
bureau’s agents developed a reputation for accuracy, honesty, and tenacity.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
During the early 1930s Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow killed 12 people during a crime spree across the southwestern United States. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), assisted by local police departments, traced the couple to Louisiana. In 1934 Bonnie and Clyde were killed
near Arcadia, Louisiana, during an ambush by law enforcement officials.
Archive Photos
In the 1930s Congress made a number of crimes federal offenses, significantly expanding the bureau’s authority. In response to
the kidnapping of the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, Congress in 1932 passed the so-called Lindbergh Act,
which made kidnapping a federal crime if the victim was transported across state lines. The law allowed the bureau to take
control of the investigation and, eventually, to capture the kidnapper. After a series of highly publicized gangster crimes, in 1934
Congress made federal crimes of bank robbery, extortion, interstate racketeering, assault or murder of federal officials,
transportation of stolen property across state lines, and interstate flight of felons. It also empowered special agents to execute
warrants, carry firearms, and make arrests (previously agents had to rely on federal marshals or local police to make arrests).
During 1934, federal agents tracked down and killed three notorious gangsters: John Dillinger, Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and
Lester Gillis (aka “Baby Face” Nelson). Hoover’s “G-men,” as agents were often called, became American folk heroes. The term
G-man, an abbreviation for “government man,” was allegedly coined by gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly, who was wanted
by the bureau for kidnapping Charles F. Urschel, a wealthy oil executive, in 1933. When apprehended by special agents, Kelly
reportedly exclaimed, “Don’t shoot, G-men! Don’t shoot!” and gave himself up. Whether or not the story is true, the term soon
entered the language of popular culture.
C World War II and Postwar Era
With the rise of fascist movements in Europe during the late 1930s and the continuing Great Depression in the United States,
many policy makers feared the spread of fascism and Communism in the United States. In 1936 President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, with the cooperation of the State Department, secretly directed Hoover to investigate “subversive” movements in the
United States. Three years later Roosevelt issued another secret directive giving the FBI the authority to investigate espionage,
counterespionage, and related activities. The Smith Act of 1940, which outlawed the advocacy of the violent overthrow of the
American government, also expanded the range of activities investigated by the FBI. During World War II (1939-1945), FBI
agents tracked suspected spies, investigated sabotage, and pursued draft violators and military deserters. The FBI Laboratory
cooperated with other federal agencies to decipher coded messages sent by enemy forces and governments abroad.
After the end of World War II, many American leaders believed that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and
Communism posed the greatest threat to American interests. As the United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War, the
FBI shifted its focus to domestic security, escalating its counterintelligence activities and its monitoring of Communist groups
and sympathizers. It arrested many leaders of the U.S. Communist Party, who were then prosecuted under the Smith Act. The
FBI investigated allegations of disloyalty among federal employees in response to executive orders from Presidents Harry S.
Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. By leaking information in confidential FBI files, the agency also provided covert assistance to
the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in the late 1940s and later to Senator Joseph McCarthy, who charged
that Communists had infiltrated the U.S. government. Throughout this period, the FBI monitored suspected Soviet agents and
worked to thwart their efforts to recruit Americans as spies. Its most famous spy case involved Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who
were arrested by the FBI in 1950 for espionage. The two were convicted of passing to the Soviet Union secret information about
the design of atomic weapons, and they were executed in 1953.
Many critics believe the FBI’s heavy emphasis on counterintelligence operations during World War II and the Cold War came at
the expense of criminal investigations. The FBI spent much of its time recovering stolen cars, apprehending military deserters,
and chasing down minor government thieves so Hoover could show Congress that the agency was making a high number of
arrests. At the same time, the FBI virtually ignored more serious threats, such as organized crime, corruption involving public
officials, financial crime, and terrorism. Hoover shied away from undercover investigations and drug trafficking inquiries, fearing
they might invite controversy. “Don’t embarrass the bureau” was his constant dictum and often led to cover-ups within the FBI.
D Antiradical Activities
FBI “Wanted” Poster
James Earl Ray, who confessed to the murder of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., appears in this “wanted” poster released by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1968. Displayed in federal post offices, these posters are officially called identification orders.
Corbis
In 1956 Hoover authorized the first in a series of secret FBI operations, code-named COINTELPRO (a contraction of the term
counterintelligence program), aimed at disrupting the activities of a variety of political groups in the United States. The first
COINTELPRO program targeted the U.S. Communist Party and suspected sympathizers. During the 1960s Hoover authorized
more COINTELPRO programs to discredit and disrupt other organizations and movements, including black nationalist groups
and civil rights organizations, socialist organizations, white supremacist groups, and New Left groups opposed to the Vietnam
War (1959-1975). Under these programs and others, the FBI illegally broke into homes and businesses, engaged in wiretapping
without proper authorization, collected derogatory information for political reasons, leaked unfavorable information to the media,
and sent anonymous mailings to promote dissension within a group or between rival groups. Hoover also ordered aggressive
surveillance of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and tried to discredit King by disseminating derogatory information
about him to the media, Congress, and others.
Despite these abuses, in the mid-1960s the FBI became more aggressive in pursuing civil rights violations and terrorism against
civil rights workers. The FBI brought to justice the murderers of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. It also
professionally investigated King’s assassination in 1968. The FBI found the fingerprint of James Earl Ray on the rifle that killed
King. That allowed the FBI to identify Ray as the killer and apprehend him.
During the 1960s, Hoover increasingly used the resources of the FBI to preserve his own power. He kept detailed files on
prominent politicians, including presidents and members of Congress. Hoover engaged in implicit blackmail by letting them
know the bureau was aware of their sexual indiscretions and their other improprieties. Hoover also used the FBI for his own
personal benefit. FBI employees added a front portico and a rear deck to Hoover’s home in Washington, D.C. They also painted
his house each year, maintained his yard, built a fish pond, and constructed shelves and other conveniences for him. FBI
employees reset Hoover’s clocks and prepared his tax returns. Today, a director who used taxpayer funds to maintain his home
would be prosecuted. But no one dared to criticize Hoover or question whether he had outlived his usefulness.
E Scandal and Reform After Hoover
Hoover died in 1972, almost 48 years after he first became director of the FBI. (A 1968 law limited the terms of future FBI
directors to 10 years.) The Senate’s Watergate investigations of 1973 and 1974 revealed President Richard Nixon’s misuse of the
FBI for his own political purposes. For example, Nixon had had the FBI wiretap prominent news reporters, White House aides,
and other government officials, and he asked the agency to collect damaging information on his critics. In addition, Nixon’s
chosen successor for Hoover, acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray, admitted in 1973 that he destroyed Watergate-related evidence
and that he regularly showed White House counsel John Dean FBI files on the Watergate investigation; Gray subsequently
resigned. The then deputy director of the FBI, W. Mark Felt, was subsequently implicated in another scandal. He was indicted
and convicted of authorizing illegal break-ins related to investigations of the Weathermen terrorist group, although President
Ronald Reagan later pardoned him. Ironically, Felt had been one of the key sources of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein, who had been instrumental in bringing public attention to the Watergate burglary and investigation.
Other revelations of FBI misconduct surfaced in the 1970s, including COINTELPRO, Hoover’s vendetta against Martin Luther
King, Jr., and the fact that Hoover had maintained a secret office file containing damaging personal information on presidents,
cabinet officials, members of Congress, and other prominent Americans. The disclosures of abuses hurt the FBI’s image as a
highly professional agency. Whereas 84 percent of the public had a “highly favorable” opinion of the FBI in 1966, by 1975 this
figure had fallen to only 37 percent.
In response to the reports of misconduct, the U.S. Senate and House in 1975 each established special committees to investigate
abuses in the FBI, CIA, and other American intelligence agencies. The committees detailed the FBI’s abuses of power and illegal
investigative techniques, criticized its lack of oversight, and recommended reforms, many of which were carried out. Among
other reforms, the FBI implemented guidelines that limited the agency to investigating criminal conduct rather than divergent
political beliefs. Acknowledging that some of the bureau’s activities had been “clearly wrong and quite indefensible,” Clarence
M. Kelley, who became FBI director in 1973, said that the FBI should never again occupy the “unique position that permitted
improper activity without accountability.” Thereafter, Congress supervised the agency more closely; both the Senate and House
established permanent intelligence committees to monitor the FBI’s activity.
William H. Webster, a former federal judge and prosecutor, became FBI director in 1978. Under Webster the agency conducted
complex investigations of espionage, organized crime, and white-collar crime. For example, in the late 1970s, in an undercover
operation code-named ABSCAM, FBI agents uncovered political corruption of members of Congress, resulting in the
convictions of six U.S. representatives, one U.S. senator, and many local officials. Webster complied with many of the reforms
that were instituted following the congressional probes, but he was criticized for authorizing the investigation of a left-wing
group, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), that raised money in the United States for
humanitarian aid to El Salvador. Although the FBI’s investigation of the group was not illegal, it improperly delved into political
activities that fell outside of the jurisdiction of the FBI.
Congress expanded the responsibilities of the FBI throughout the 1980s. After President Ronald Reagan made a “war on drugs” a
policy priority, Congress granted the FBI concurrent jurisdiction with the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate
narcotics violations in the United States. After a number of terrorist acts killed Americans traveling or working abroad, Congress
expanded the FBI’s jurisdiction in 1986 to include terrorist acts against American citizens conducted outside of United States
territory. During the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, the FBI investigated hundreds of bank failures and uncovered evidence
of widespread fraud.
F Ruby Ridge and Waco Incidents
In the early 1990s the FBI’s involvement in two violent standoffs—the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents—raised new questions
about its operations and use of deadly force. In the Ruby Ridge incident, federal marshals traveled to a remote mountain cabin
near Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in August 1992 to arrest white separatist and anti-government activist Randall (Randy) Weaver, who
was wanted on a weapons charge. A shootout ensued in which a federal marshal and Weaver’s son were killed. The next day,
FBI sharpshooters surrounded Weaver’s cabin, with authorization to “shoot on sight” any armed adult in the vicinity of the cabin.
One of the sharpshooters shot and killed Weaver’s unarmed wife and wounded Weaver and a friend. Weaver was later acquitted
of all major weapons charges and received a government settlement of $3.1 million, in which the government admitted no
wrongdoing. Investigations by the Justice Department and Congress condemned the agency’s use of excessive force and resulted
in disciplinary actions against FBI officials.
In the Waco incident in 1993, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) launched a raid on the
compound of the Branch Davidian religious sect in Waco, Texas, whose members were suspected of purchasing illegal weapons.
During an ensuing gunfight, four ATF agents were killed, 16 agents were wounded, and a number of Branch Davidians were
killed or wounded, although it is not known for certain how many. On April 19, 1993, following a 51-day standoff with the sect,
FBI agents launched a tear-gas assault on the compound to force the Branch Davidians out. A fire soon engulfed the compound,
resulting in the deaths of more than 80 Branch Davidians, including many children. Although the FBI was severely criticized in
the aftermath of the tragedy, a federal judge and a special counsel concluded in 2000 that the Branch Davidians had deliberately
started the fire and that federal agents were not responsible for their deaths. Critics maintained, however, that the FBI could have
been more patient in ending the standoff.
The Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents led the FBI to institute several reforms. The agency revised its policy on deadly force to
permit such force “only in the face of imminent death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person.” It also revised
its procedures for reviewing shooting incidents to ensure an impartial investigation, and it changed its policies for managing
crisis situations.
G The FBI Under Freeh
Louis J. Freeh
President Bill Clinton appointed Louis J. Freeh as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1993. Prior to his appointment, Freeh
served as a prosecutor, judge, and FBI agent. Freeh retired as director in 2001.
Terry Ashe/Liaison Agency
In January 1993 the FBI suffered another scandal when allegations surfaced that William S. Sessions, who had become FBI
director in 1987, had committed numerous ethics violations while in office. According to the allegations, later confirmed by a
Justice Department investigation, Sessions took personal trips in the bureau’s plane, used FBI resources to construct a security
fence around his home, and allowed his wife improper access to FBI headquarters. President Bill Clinton fired Sessions in July
1993 after he refused to resign. Louis J. Freeh, a former prosecutor, judge, and FBI agent, was appointed FBI director in 1993
following Sessions’s ouster. Freeh focused on expanding the bureau’s international presence and increasing the number of
overseas offices.
The FBI also confronted new threats from terrorism. The FBI successfully investigated the 1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center in New York City, ultimately resulting in the conviction of six Islamic radicals for the bombing and ten other Islamic
radicals for conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks. The FBI quickly solved the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, arresting antigovernment activists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The
bombing killed 168 people. In 1996 the agency identified Theodore Kaczynski as the so-called Unabomber, the man responsible
for killing 3 people and injuring 23 others in a 17-year bombing campaign against industry, academia, and the airlines. In 1998
bombs were detonated at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 223 people and injuring thousands. The FBI’s
investigation traced the bombings to a conspiracy by Islamic radicals to kill American citizens outside the United States. These
bombings, combined with the earlier bombings on United States soil, increased the agency’s emphasis on domestic and
international counterterrorism programs.
Oklahoma City Bombing
The bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 was one of the worst acts of terrorism in United States history, killing
168 people and injuring 850 others. In June 1997 former U.S. soldier Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing and given a sentence of
death.
Lisa Rudy Hoke/Black Star
Alongside its successes, the FBI came under attack for its practices at the FBI Laboratory. In 1995 an FBI Laboratory chemist,
Frederic Whitehurst, alleged that laboratory staff engaged in sloppy practices, fabricated evidence, and bent their findings to
benefit prosecutions. A Justice Department investigation of laboratory practices, completed in 1997, failed to substantiate most of
Whitehurst’s charges, but the investigation faulted laboratory examiners for substandard work, scientifically flawed reports, and
misleading trial testimony, some of which tended to incriminate defendants. The FBI ordered reforms in report preparation,
evidence handling, management, and other areas.
The FBI was also heavily criticized for its investigation of a bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. During
the course of the inquiry, FBI agents identified an Atlanta security guard, Richard Jewell, as the prime suspect in the bombing.
The security guard was never charged with a crime and was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. But Freeh and the FBI were
criticized for allegedly leaking the suspect’s name to the media and for conducting initial questioning of the security guard under
false pretenses.
Theodore Kaczynski Arrested
Federal agents detain Theodore Kaczynski in 1996 in connection with the “Unabomber” attacks. From 1978 to 1995, Kaczynski killed and
maimed university professors and business executives with homemade bombs. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s $50 million, 16-year hunt
for the Unabomber was the longest and most expensive search in the agency’s history. In 1998 Kaczynski pled guilty to 13 federal charges related
to the bombings in exchange for a promise that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty during his sentencing. Later that year, Kaczynski
was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay $15 million in restitution.
Michael Gallacher/Liaison Agency
The FBI’s counterespionage operations came under renewed scrutiny in a series of highly publicized spy cases. In 1984 Richard
W. Miller became the first FBI agent arrested (and later convicted) for espionage. In 1994 the FBI arrested Aldrich H. Ames, a
veteran CIA official, for selling secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia. The agency was criticized for not acting earlier to
apprehend Ames. In 1996 another FBI agent, Earl E. Pitts, was arrested for selling classified FBI counterintelligence information
to Russia; he was convicted in 1997. In 1999 the FBI arrested and jailed Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos National
Laboratory, on charges of illegally copying nuclear weapons design secrets from Los Alamos computers. When the government
agreed to drop all but one of its charges against Lee, critics assailed the FBI and director Freeh for presuming Lee guilty of
spying despite weak evidence. In 2001 the FBI arrested Robert P. Hanssen, a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent, on charges
that he had sold national security secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia for 15 years. The FBI ordered an independent review of
how Hanssen escaped detection and said it would administer polygraph tests to agents in key national security positions.
Freeh retired as FBI director in 2001, two years before the end of his ten-year term. President George W. Bush appointed Robert
S. Mueller III, a longtime federal prosecutor, as the new director. Mueller was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
H September 11 Attacks
September 11 Attacks
On September 11, 2001, a team of 19 hijackers on suicide missions carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in United States history, killing more
than 3,000 people. This slide show, consisting of photographs and sound clips, documents the September 11 attacks and their aftermath.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
On September 11, 2001, just over a month into Mueller’s tenure, a team of airplane hijackers carried out the deadliest terrorist
attack in United States history, completely destroying the World Trade Center and severely damaging the Pentagon, the U.S.
military headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. More than 3,000 people died in the attacks. The FBI launched the largest
investigation in its history and soon determined that the hijackers were linked to al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic group led by Saudi
exile Osama bin Laden (see September 11 Attacks). Later that year, the agency investigated the mailing of several letters
containing potentially lethal anthrax bacteria to media companies and political offices, but it was unable to identify any suspects.
In 2003 a congressional inquiry into the September 11 attacks issued a report that criticized the FBI and CIA for failing to share
critical pieces of intelligence with each other and for overlooking important clues to the terrorist plot. For example, the inquiry
found that FBI headquarters failed to heed warnings from its Phoenix office about terrorist suspects seeking to enroll in flight
training schools or to act properly on a request from its Minneapolis office to conduct a search of an alleged conspirator in the
terrorist attacks. In response to the report, Mueller noted that the FBI was already a “changed organization” that had restructured
to make prevention of terrorist attacks its highest priority and that had improved coordination with the CIA and state and local
law enforcement.
In 2004 an independent commission tasked with investigating the September 11 attacks repeated the criticisms of the
congressional inquiry. The 9/11 Commission, known in full as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States, concluded that before the attacks the FBI failed to share crucial information with other agencies and lacked an effective
way to synthesize the collective knowledge of its field agents. Although the commission praised the FBI’s renewed focus on
counterterrorism and its “significant progress” in improving its intelligence capabilities since the attacks, it also cited “gaps
between some of the announced reforms and the reality in the field.”
Robert Mueller
Robert S. Mueller III was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in August 2001. Following the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, Mueller restructured the agency to make prevention of terrorism its highest priority.
Brooks Kraft/Corbis
The commission recommended changes in hiring, training, and management that would ensure the FBI develops an “institutional
culture imbued with a deep expertise in intelligence and national security.” At the government level, the commission
recommended the creation of a director of national intelligence (DNI) to unify intelligence-gathering work and the creation of a
National Counterterrorism Center to analyze all terrorism-related intelligence and to plan counterterrorism operations.
The U.S. Congress implemented the recommendations to create the DNI and the National Counterterrorism Center when it
passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The DNI coordinates and supervises the intelligence
gathering and counterterrorism work of the FBI and 14 other intelligence agencies. The new law also created an intelligence
directorate at the FBI and mandated that a select group of FBI agents be trained in intelligence gathering techniques. The training
is to emphasize uncovering terrorist plots rather than gathering information for use in criminal prosecution.
I The FBI and the Patriot Act
In 2007 the FBI came under criticism from members of Congress over its handling of special subpoenas, known as national
security letters. The subpoenas are permitted under the Patriot Act, which was enacted in the wake of September 11. The act
enabled the FBI to issue national security letters without a court’s approval to obtain telephone, Internet, and financial data from
businesses on persons whose activities may be relevant to a terrorist investigation. The recipient of a national security letter must
comply with the request and cannot legally challenge the request for at least one year. These provisions inspired criticism from
civil liberties advocates who argued that the lack of court supervision and the broad reach of the subpoenas left the program open
to abuse.
In March 2007 the inspector general of the U.S. Justice Department reported that the FBI had underreported the number of
national security letters it had issued. The report also found that in 48 instances FBI agents had used such letters improperly and
illegally, based on a sampling of only 4 of 56 FBI field offices. FBI director Robert S. Mueller III conceded that the inspector
general’s audit was accurate but said the underreporting and instances of illegal and improper use were the result of errors in
judgment rather than criminal intent. He also blamed deficiencies in FBI databases and record-keeping. The inspector general’s
2007 report revised the number of national security letters that had been issued over a three-year period. According to the report,
the actual number was 39,000 in 2003, 56,000 in 2004, and 47,000 in 2005. The report found that the FBI had underreported
these numbers by 20 percent.
Under the Patriot Act, national security letters involving telephone and e-mail transactions can only seek telephone numbers
called or information on the To: and From: lines of an e-mail message. But according to the Justice Department report,
overzealous recipients of the national security letters often voluntarily supplied the contents of e-mail and voice mail messages.
In other instances the FBI obtained information about people who were not related to terrorist investigations due to
“typographical errors” in the national security letter or errors in processing by the recipients of the letters.
The disclosures prompted some members of Congress to call for eliminating provisions in the Patriot Act, such as national
security letters, that infringe on privacy and lack judicial supervision. In 2008 the Justice Department’s inspector general
followed up on his report of the previous year, finding that abuses continued in 2006 even though internal safeguards at the FBI
were reportedly put into place that year to curb the abuses. About 50,000 national security letters were issued in 2006. The
inspector general found numerous breaches of privacy that enabled the FBI to obtain private information about tens of thousands
of U.S. citizens and foreigners without first obtaining a warrant from a judge.
J The FBI and the National Lawyers Guild
In June 2007 thousands of internal FBI reports became publicly available for the first time documenting the agency’s surveillance
of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) from 1940 to 1975. The reports revealed the extent of FBI surveillance of the NLG and
other left-wing and liberal organizations and individuals during that period, including attempts by the agency to influence
elections and monitor Guild legal strategies. The newly disclosed documents confirmed previous reports that the FBI also
monitored Martin Luther King, Jr., and such organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).
The National Lawyers Guild was created in 1937 as a multiracial alternative to the American Bar Association, which at that time
refused to admit black attorneys or other attorneys of color. Its founders included the U.S. attorney general under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, several judges and members of Congress, and the head of the National Labor Relations Board. Under J.
Edgar Hoover the FBI regarded the NLG as a subversive organization, although in 1958 and again in 1972 the U.S. Department
of Justice refused to give it this designation.
Among the documents unveiled was a report on attempts to influence the election of George W. Crockett, Jr., a black attorney
and vice president of the Guild who was running for a judgeship in Detroit, Michigan, in 1966. According to the documents, the
agency sent a letter using a false name to a local conservative organization, alleging that Crockett was linked to the Communist
Party. The organization issued election fliers calling Crockett an “enemy collaborator.” FBI agents then distributed the fliers to
newspapers, trade unions, and other organizations. Crockett nevertheless won the election and went on to serve in the U.S. House
of Representatives from 1980 to 1991. Another document revealed that the agency planted an informer in a Guild office who then
reported back to the FBI on legal strategies devised by NLG lawyers.
Contributed By:
Ronald Kessler