Essay on the F.B.I.

To uphold the law through the investigation of violations of federal


  criminal law; to protect the U.S. from foreign intelligence and terrorist


  activities; to provide leadership and law enforcement assistance to


  federal, state, 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 U.S.: this is the mission of the


  Federal Bureau of Investigation.


 


  The agency now known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation was founded in


  1908 when the Attorney General appointed an unnamed force of Special Agents


  to be the investigative force of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Before


  that time, the DOJ had to borrow Agents from the U.S. Secret Service to


  investigate violations of federal criminal laws within its jurisdiction. In


  1909, the Special Agent Force was renamed the Bureau of Investigation, and


  after a series of name changes, it received its present official name in


  1935.


 


  During the early period of the FBIs history, its agents investigated


  violations of mainly bankruptcy frauds, antitrust crime, and neutrality


  violation. During World War One, the Bureau was given the responsibility of


  investigating espionage, sabotage, sedition (resistance against lawful


  authority), and draft violations. The passage of the National Motor Vehicle


  Theft Act in 1919 further broadened the Bureau's jurisdiction.


 


  After the passage of Prohibition in 1920, the gangster era began, bringing


  about a whole new type of crime. Criminals engaged in kidnapping and bank


  robbery, which were not federal crimes at that time. This changed in 1932


  with the passage of a federal kidnapping statute. In 1934, many other


  federal criminal statutes were...