History of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Bureau of Investigation, which on January 1, 1935, became the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was created in response to a Sundry Civil Service Bill passed in 1908. The bill stated that Secret Service agents could no longer be assigned to any department other than the Treasury and any employee accepting such an assignment would be suspended for two years. The bill led Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte to create a special agent force within the Department of Justice. When the bureau was established there were very few federal crimes, and their caseload consisted mainly of banking, bankruptcy and antitrust violations. The power of the FBI increased in 1910 with the passage of the Mann Act, also known as the White Slavery Act, which expanded FBI jurisdiction to include interstate crime.

By the 1920s, the FBI was responsible for tracking down car thieves, bank robbers, bootleggers and any one else committing crimes in multiple states. With these new responsibilities, the lives of FBI agents suddenly became more dangerous. In 1925, Special Agent Edward Shanahan was killed by fugitive car thief Martin Durkin in Chicago, becoming the first agent killed in the line of duty.

The 1930s saw a plethora of criminals brought to justice by the FBI. In 1931, Elliot Ness and the "Untouchables" brought down Chicago kingpin Al Capone on charges of income tax evasion. In 1932, the FBI lead the investigation into the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. The investigation concluded in 1935 with the conviction and execution of Bruno Hauptmann. In 1933, FBI agents captured George "Machine Gun" Kelly in a Memphis, Tennessee hotel room.

One of the bloodiest years in Bureau history was 1934. In May, FBI agents hunted down and eventually killed, Clyde Barrow and his machine-gun toting moll, Bonnie Parker. A few months later, agents gunned down John Dillinger while he was leaving the Biograph Theater in Chicago and Kansas City Massacre trigger man Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was killed by FBI agents during a shootout on an Ohio farm.

The FBI had been investigating Nazi and communist groups within the United States since 1936. However, in 1941 the United States declared their involvement in World War II. This action led to a dramatic increase in the investigation of seditious activities. In 1942, the FBI captured eight German saboteurs who recently entered in the US. Their leader, George John Dasch, had turned himself in to the FBI only two days after he came ashore. His confession led to the apprehension of his fellow spies and their execution months later. The end of World War II, however, did not bring an end to FBI investigations of espionage. The FBI would capture and prosecute many spies in the years to come, beginning with Klaus Fuchs in 1950 and more recently in 2001, with the arrest of Robert Hanssen.

Today, the FBI plays a major role in investigating terrorism both domestically and abroad. FBI agents worked side by side with foreign authorities after the bombing of Pan American flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and were the lead agency in the investigation of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Additionally, the FBI spearheaded the investigation into the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995. Agents were also dispatched to investigate the bombing of American facilities in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and lead the investigation into the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in 2000. However, it was on September 11, 2001, that the goals of the FBI dramatically changed. After September 11, the FBI shifted its focus to the prevention of terrorism against the United States and its citizens. With the signing of the Patriot Act in 2001, the FBI was given increased authority to track, surveil and hunt potential terrorists. However, the new focus on terrorism has not prevented the FBI from continuing to hunt down criminals within the United States. Currently, the FBI has been involved with several cases such as the murder of Chondra Levy, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart and the kidnapping of Dylan and Shasta Groene.