The Federal Bureau of Investigations
Name
Institution
Abstract
The manner in which a law enforcement organization is set up, usually plays an important role in determining how effectively it is able to carry out its functions and fulfill its objectives. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is no different, as the manner in which it is organized, greatly influences its ability to carry out its federal duties, as well as how well it can cooperate with local law enforcement. Furthermore, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has greatly evolved over the years in terms of its organization in order to be able to better deal with emerging threats and an ever evolving criminal world.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations
The Federal Bureau of investigations is a federal agency established in the year 1908.It serves as both an intelligence agency as well as a federal criminal investigations agency. Originally established under the name of Bureau of Investigations (which changed to FBI in 1935) by then attorney general Charles Bonaparte, its original functions were to investigate any violations of federal law. The formation of the agency was actually driven by events occurring in the early 1900s, such as President McKinley’s assassination and the perception by among others President Roosevelt that America was under a serious threat from anarchists, and therefore in a bid to better monitor them he felt the need for establishing autonomous investigative service. Charles Bonaparte therefore established the Bureau of Investigations on July 26th 1908 under the instruction of the President using 34 personnel including retired secret service agents. Currently, in addition to serving as an intelligence agency as well as a federal criminal investigations unit, the agency also serves as the law enforcement agency in charge of Indian reservations.
The bureau defines itself as an intelligence driven law enforcement and national security agency which not only provides leadership but also makes a difference within the community and within the realm of criminal justice, be it amongst federal, municipal, state or international agencies. The mission of the bureau is to defend and protect the country from foreign intelligence threats and terrorism as well as enforce and uphold the country’s criminal laws. This mission the agency postulates, is met through observance of the FBI’s core values, such as: rigorous obedience to the constitution, fairness, compassion, respecting the dignity of those the agency seeks to protect, and uncompromising integrity, both institutionally and individually (Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics, n.d). Further the agency strives to utilize these core values to foster the support and cooperation of the community, which it argues are quite important when it comes to the accomplishment of the agency’s goal. In addition, the bureau extends this same spirit of cooperation and support to other law enforcement agencies, be they state, local or federal, further spurring it towards fulfilling its mission (Weiner, 2012).
The purpose of the Federal Bureau of Investigations based on the descriptions above is, therefore, to investigate federal crimes as well as threats to national security, as well as to assist other law enforcement agencies and gather intelligence (Kessler, 1993). The structure of the bureau is such that it has five functional branches in addition to the office of the director. These branches include:
The Criminal, Cyber Response and Services branch: Deals with investigations concerning white collar crime, financial crime, organized crime, violent crime, public corruption, individual civil rights violations as well as computer based crimes which may be related to counterintelligence, criminal threats against the country and counterterrorism.
The Information and Technology branch: Is responsible for taking care of all the FBI’s information and technology needs, as well as information management. Further, it facilitates and promotes, sharing, application as well as creation if knowledge products with other law enforcement agencies with an aim of improving crime fighting capabilities nation wide.
The Science and Technology branch: Provides information sharing support capabilities to not just the FBI but law enforcement in general, as well as forensic science services.
The Human Resources branch: Deals with recruit training as well as any other internal human resource issues and needs.
The National Security branch: This branch protects the country from espionage, foreign intelligence operations, weapons of mass destruction and acts of terrorism. It investigates national security threats, develops the capabilities of the other law enforcement agencies and provides them with information and analyses (Theoharis, Tony, Susan & Powers, 2000).
All these branches are headed by Executive Assistant Directors who are answerable to the director through the deputy director. The office of the director encompasses other administrative offices such as the office of the Director, deputy director, associate director, congressional affairs, equal employment opportunity affairs, general counsel, ombudsman, integrity and compliance, public affair and seven others (Powers, 1983).
In order to facilitate cooperation, the bureau has in addition to its headquarters in Washington D.C, 56 field offices located all over the United States in major cities, 380 resident agencies (smaller offices) in towns and cities across the country as well as 60 international offices.
This structure while highly effective, could be further improved, more so if it is to adopt a more effective preventive strategy towards crime. The manner in which the FBI is set up promotes information flow and sharing of information, but does not encourage establishment of informal or even formal relationships, with other law enforcement agencies as well as the communities within which these subdivisions of the bureau operate (Zegart, 2007). One key element I feel is missing within the structure, is a liaison department or branch. Considering that cooperation is not only cited as one of the objectives of the core values, but it is also one of the most important aspects of contemporary approaches to law enforcement, dedicating man hours to dealing with aspects of communication between the Federal Bureau of Investigations and other law enforcement agencies as well as the community would go a long way towards helping the agency achieve its mission (U.S Department of Justice, 2003).
References
Federal Bureau of Investigation (n.d). Federal Bureau of Investigations-Quick Facts. Retrievedfrom HYPERLINK “http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/quick-facts/quickfacts” http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/quick-facts/quickfacts
Kessler, R. (1993). The FBI: Inside the World’s Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency. PocketBooksPublications.
Powers, R. (1983). G-Men: Hoover’s FBI in American Popular Culture. Carbondale, IL:Southern Illinois University Press.
Theoharis, A., Tony, G., Susan, R., & Powers, R. (2000). The FBI: A Comprehensive ReferenceGuide.Checkmark Books.
The Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics (2000). The Federal Bureau of Investigations CoreValues. CoverInstitute Journal.
U.S. Department of Justice (2003). Factors That Influence Public Opinion of the Police.Retrieved from HYPERLINK “https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/197925.pdf” https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/197925.pdf
Weiner, T. (2012). Revolution. Enemies a history of the FBI. New York: Random House.
Zegart, A. (2007). Spying Blind. Princeton University Press. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://faculty.spa.ucla.edu/zegart/tableofcontent.asp” http://faculty.spa.ucla.edu/zegart/tableofcontent.asp
