Mention the FBI, and many older Americans will likely think of a time when the agency was led by J. Edgar Hooverwho spent much of his nearly half-century tenure at the agency harassing political dissidents and abusing his power.
But like Javed Ali, former FBI counterterrorism expert explains that the role of the FBI and its leader has changed dramatically over time.
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The Conversation’s political editor Naomi Schalit asked Ali, who now teaches national security and intelligence courses at the University of Michigan, to explain what a modern FBI director does as President-elect Donald Trump wants to appoint his own director to replace the current head of the FBI. Christopher Wray, whom Trump appointed in 2017. Wray said he will resign in January 2025.
Naomi Schalit: Let’s start with FBI 101. What does the agency do?
Javed Ali: The FBI began as the nation’s principal federal criminal investigative agency in 1909, then was named Investigation officeor BOI. Previously, organizations such as the Secret Service and the U.S. Marshall’s Service were responsible for investigating federal crimes, but the introduction of the BOI marked the beginning of the mandate of what became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935 until to today.
During this more than 100-year period, the FBI has focused on investigating federal crimes in areas such as racketeering, fraud, public corruption, illegal financial schemes, and organized crime, for n ‘name just a few. But despite the general public perceptions of the FBI as the nation’s premier crime-fighting organization, as revealed by the iconic FBI insignia, logo and early depictions of the “G-men”, the FBI has always focused on security threats national which weigh on the nation. This focus was evident as early as the 1910s – before World War I – as the FBI investigated suspects. saboteurs and spies.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover is shown in this February 14, 1972 file photo via Reuters.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the FBI focused on individuals linked to the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as communists and Bolsheviks, as the The Soviet Union took power. During the Cold War, in the FBI’s zeal to eliminate and prevent Soviet influence in the United States, it began arguably the darkest chapter in the organization’s history.
Starting in mid-1950s and I called COINTELPROthese efforts throughout the 1960s included campaigns of domestic surveillance, intelligence gathering, and disinformation. without judicial authorization against Americans suspected of receiving money or other forms of support from the Soviet Union – even though the factual basis for these concerns was often shaky at best.
The FBI’s focus on terrorists and spies continued for decades and intensified in the 1990s with the emergence of jihadist threats in the United States and abroad. Despite the warning signs of the attacks that preceded September 11, a a number of gaps and challenges remain within the FBI, which contributed to these attacks and led to major reforms within the organization. Although counterterrorism and counterintelligence remain important priorities since September 11, the FBI also increased its cybersecurity effortsdemonstrating the continued evolution of the organization’s national security focus as new threats emerge and existing threats disappear.
Shalit: What is the role of the head of the FBI?
Ali: The Director of the FBI is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but is not a cabinet member. The FBI is a sub-agency within the Ministry of Justicewhose head, the attorney general, is a member of the cabinet. FBI Director Named serve a full term of 10 years this theoretically protects the director from political pressure.
There is no single path for the FBI director. Some were chosen because of their familiarity and knowledge of federal law enforcement from a legal perspective or from an agent’s perspective.
After Hoover, some were former judges like William Websteror former prosecutors or the Department of Justice lawyers like James Comey, Robert Mueller, Christopher Wray Or Kash Patel, the current candidate nominated by President Trump. A – Louis Freeh – was a former FBI special agent.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats to American security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 11, 2024. File photo by Julia Nikhinson/ Reuters
Shalit: You worked at FBI Headquarters between 2007 and 2010. During that time, Robert Mueller was the director, and you worked closely to be able to see how he ran the organization. What are the actual tasks that an FBI Director undertakes?
Ali: Mueller was working hard to get the FBI as an organization to adopt a different mindset, but also organizationally and bureaucratically, to deal with the terrorist threat landscape the country faced after 9/11 september.
Part of this involved transforming the FBI into an intelligence-driven organization that used information to prevent or disrupt national security threats from occurring, rather than responding to and investigating crimes after they occurred. are produced.
Sometimes he would stay at the 50,000 foot level and think about the big picture and try to make sure the office was moving in the direction he had indicated, or doing what Congress and the White House wanted it to do. he does.
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On the other hand, there were times when Director Mueller would delve into the details of specific counterterrorism investigations and cases and ask questions of his management team in order to ensure he had a good understanding of what was happening on the ground.
These were the kinds of questions any FBI director would ask his staff about such investigations, such as: how many FBI resources were involved in conducting a particular operation, the value of any intelligence collected, the capacity of an individual or group under investigation. to carry out an attack, and what legal basis, if any, existed to make an arrest on a federal criminal charge to prevent an attack from occurring.
These types of high-stakes deliberations occurred regularly, underscoring the breadth of responsibilities an FBI director assumes in his or her position.
And it’s important to know what’s happening on the ground, since the FBI is not just a Washington, DC-based organization. There is 55 field offices in the United States and Puerto Ricoand the majority of the FBI’s personnel are located in these three countries – Washington, DC, New York and Los Angeles being the three largest – in addition to FBI personnel assigned overseas as part of the operation. legal attachment program or on temporary assignment around the world.
At a 2013 hearing, FBI Director Robert Mueller was questioned by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin about the agency’s technological capabilities.
Shalit: Who sets the FBI’s agenda?
Ali: The FBI Director must manage multiple relationships in order to effectively fulfill the duties of the position. The director reports to both the attorney general and the president, is overseen by the congressional judiciary and intelligence committees, and must also maintain the trust of the American people to investigate crimes and prevent threats to national security.
In some administrations, relations between the president and the FBI director have been lukewarm. In these cases, it is the attorney general who sets the course for the FBI. This is where the president or other senior White House officials, for the most part, have confidence in the FBI director and the attorney general and what they’re doing, or it’s just not a priority for them.
And then there are other times when the president really wants to know what the FBI director is doing, making sure he’s following the priorities set by the president. But once again, this must be limited to respecting the Constitution and respecting the Internal FBI Guidelines.
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