Federal Bureau of Investigation

The FBI is the principal investigative arm of the US Department of Justice. The US Code authorizes the Attorney General to appoint officials to detect crimes against the US; other federal statutes give the FBI authority and responsibility to investigate specific crimes. At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over more than 200 categories of violations of federal law.

The Bureau is also authorized to investigate matters where no prosecution is contemplated. For example, under the authority of several Executive Orders, the FBI conducts background security checks on nominees to sensitive Government positions. In addition, the FBI has been directed or authorized by Presidential statements or directives to obtain information about activities that jeopardize the security of the nation.

Information obtained through FBI investigations is presented to US Attorneys or other Justice Department officials, who decide if prosecution or other action is warranted. Top priority has been assigned to the five areas that affect society the most: counterterrorism, drugs and organized crime, foreign counterintelligence, violent crime, and white-collar crime. The FBI is also authorized to provide cooperative services to other law enforcement agencies, including fingerprint identification, laboratory examinations, police training, Uniform Crime Reports, and the services of the National Crime Information Center.

With respect to counterintelligence, the FBI is responsible for detecting and counteracting foreign intelligence activity that gathers information that adversely affects US national interests of security. The FBI conducts foreign counterintelligence investigations under the authority of Executive Order 12333 and acts of Congress.

With regard to counterterrorism, the FBI's mission is to identify and neutralize the threat in the US posed by terrorists and their supporters, whether nations, groups, or individuals. Terrorism is categorized as either domestic or international depending on the origin, base, and objectives of the terrorist organization or individual. Criminal acts investigated under the Counterterrorism Program include violations of the Protection of Foreign Officials statute, neutrality matters, nuclear extortion, sabotage, and sedition.

The agency now known as the FBI was founded in 1908, when Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte appointed an unnamed force of Special Agents to be the investigative force of the Department of Justice. The Special Agent force was named the Bureau of Investigation in 1909, by order of Attorney General George W. Wickersham. Following a series of name changes, the FBI officially received its present title in 1935.