Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

as such, is legally prohibited from engaging in foreign intelligence

activities. However, its counterintelligenceunit is a formal member

of the intelligence community (IC).

The FBI originated from a force of special agents created in 1908

during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Initially called the Bu-

reau of Investigation, it primarily investigated violations of laws in-

volving national banking, bankruptcy, naturalization, antitrust, espi-

onage, and land fraud. The Mann Act of June 1910 expanded the

Bureau’s jurisdiction into investigating transportation of women

across state lines for immoral purposes. At the same time, the Bureau

of Investigation established field offices around the country, each

with a special agent in charge who was responsible to headquarters in

Washington.

With U.S. entry into World War Iin April 1917, the Bureau ac-

quired new counterespionage responsibilities as well as jurisdiction

in selective service, sabotage, and enemy alien cases. In July 1919,

with the passage of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, the Bureau

received additional responsibilities for investigating thefts of motor

vehicles across state lines.

The Bureau’s specific jurisdictions prevented it from taking the

lead in antigangster and prohibition actions during the gangster era of

1921–1933. Yet, its stature continued to increase as it employed cre-

ative legal means against such groups as the Ku Klux Klan and some

gangsters.

On 10 May 1924, J. Edgar Hooverassumed the directorship of

the Bureau, a position he occupied for the next 50 years. Hoover im-

mediately set about imposing professional standards for the organi-

zation and initiated a rigorous public relations program that kept the

Bureau, and later the FBI, in the public limelight as battling evil

forces. He also established an identification unit that encouraged

state and local law enforcement officials to contribute to a nationwide

fingerprint and identification data bank.

On 1 July 1931, the Bureau was renamed the United States Bureau

of Investigation, which in 1935 was changed to the Federal Bureau of

Investigation. In the run-up to World War II, the FBI assumed ex-

panded responsibilities in investigating sabotage, subversion, and es-

pionage, as well as collecting intelligence in Latin America. With the

establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947, a

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