Introduction
In this presentation we will compare the two
investigative agencies of the U.S. namely the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). We will match
the two agencies in terms of their roles, scope,
jurisdiction, significance for the government
and citizens, the command and reporting structure,
size etc. etc.
Analysis
We will start our analysis by looking at these
organizations from a historical perspective. We
will see their growth over time, which will help
us to better understand the differences between
them. The FBI was created on July 26, 1908 as
an unnamed agency with the transfer of under 50
agents from the Secret Service. Next year it was
given the name Bureau of Investigations. It got
its present name in 1935. Upon inception the mandate
covered such crimes as antitrust violations, bank
and bankruptcy fraud etc. The mandate was extended
in 1910 and 1919 by adding to FBI’s responsibilities
the task of stopping border crossing of women
for prostitution (White Slave Traffic Act (Mann
Act) and of stopping similar border transfers
of stolen cars (Motor Vehicle Theft Act ‘Dyer
Act of 1919’) respectively. FBI thus came
to aid the police in combating criminals who would
dodge the police by crossing borders.
FBI was asked to investigate sabotage, espionage,
draft dodging etc. during World War I. After the
war FBI got engaged in the obsession of containing
the “Red Scare’. In the 1920 Palmer
Raids, with Edgar Hoover actively involved, thousand
of communists, civil rights and labor union activists
were rounded up and harried. FBI had its reputation
tarnished following uncovering of massive abuse
of its powers for illegal searches and arrests.
J. Edgar Hoover took over as the agency’s
director in 1924.He replaced those found wanting
with more better qualified, professional and talented
agents. He emphasized training, reporting, and
employing scientific analysis techniques. Following
the Lindbergh Act of 1932 Congress in 1934 declared
bank robbery, extortion, and interstate racketeering
as crime and this added to FBI “s responsibilities.
During the World War II years FBI was once again
involved in an obsession, that of combating the
spreading of fascism and Communism. The Smith
Act of 1940 gave the agency the task of investigating
espionage, counter-espionage etc. FBI agents tracked
spies and suspects, draft dodgers and the agency
also helped other agencies in deciphering coded
messages.
Following the end of World War II the Soviet
Union came to be perceived as a threat to the
free world. FBI’s agenda emphasized domestic
security, counterintelligence activities and it’s
monitoring of Communist groups and sympathizers.
Leaders of the U.S. Communist Party were arrested
and prosecuted under the Smith Act.
Government officials though to be ‘soft’
on communist ideology were similarly persecuted.
McCarthyism ( the term refers to Senator Joseph
McCarthy) was obsessed with fears of communism
and FBI was used to do everything to counter the
fear. (Yahoo!Directory:Federal Bureau of Investigations)
Hoover launched the counterintelligence program
( called COINTELPRO) in 1956 to foil the activities
of political groups. FBI got actively engaged
in monitoring Black Nationalist groups, civil
rights and socialist organizations, and anti-Vietnam
War groups. Wire tapping, illegal house searches
became routine. Hoover also worked on discrediting
civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. by
spreading false propaganda against him. Hoover
used to keep files on political leaders for using
the classified information against these persons.
Hoover’s term in FBI lasted nearly five
decades and after his death in 1972 the maximum
tenure has been fixed as ten years. FBI extensively
used wiretapping during the Nixon years and its
new director L. Patrick Gray admitted destroying
evidence pertaining to the Watergate scandal.
Following all these disclosures FBI once again
had its image tarnished for chasing shadows and
imaginary threats and neglecting criminal investigations.
Surveys confirmed its plummeting image. In 1975
U.S. Senate and House established special committees
to look into abuses in the FBI. Following the
committees’ recommendations several reforms
were introduced. Agency’s new director Clarence
M. Kelley observed that the FBI should never again
occupy the “unique position that permitted
improper activity without accountability. Permanent
committees were formed to monitor FBI activities.
(Yahoo!Directory:Federal Bureau of Investigations)
In the 1970’s FBI investigated white-collar
crime. It probed corruption among members of Congress,
resulting in the convictions of six U.S. representatives,
one U.S. senator, and several local officials.
However it was criticized once again for over
stepping its authority by delving improperly into
activities of the aid group called the Committee
in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).
President Reagan further expanded the role of
FBI to carry out a campaign against drugs and
also to counter terrorist’s attacks on American
citizens outside of the U.S. (Yahoo!Directory:Federal
Bureau of Investigations)
The Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents in the 1990’s
raised a public furor, which resulted in revision
of FBI policy on use of deadly force to permit
such force “only in the face of imminent
death or serious physical injury to the officer
or another person.” (History of the FBI
2004)
The 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in
New York City and the bombing of the federal building
in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 were both successfully
investigated by the FBI. Kaczynski who killed
and maimed university professors and business
executives with homemade bombs was also arrested
after a long and expensive search. With these
successes came the charge that FBI laboratories
fabricated evidence and bent findings to suit
prosecution-prompting reforms there. FBI also
was criticized for the lapse at the 1996 Olympic
games in Atlanta, Georgia. (History of the FBI
2004)
The FBI launched the largest investigation in
its history after a group of aircraft hijackers
attacks on the World Trade Center. It was able
to solve the case by determining the identity
of the hijackers and establishing their link to
o Al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic group led by Saudi
exile Osama bin Laden
A little later the agency investigated the mailing
of several letters containing lethal anthrax bacteria
to media companies and political offices, but
it was unable to identify any suspects. FBI though
has come under fire for not detecting and thus
preventing the September 11 attacks. This has
again set in motion reforms in the agency. CIA
also gave wrong information about a pharmaceutical
factory in Sudan as a result of which the factory
was bombed.
We have surveyed the FBI so now we can start
comparing and contrasting it with CIA starting
with their respective ages. The origin of CIA
is recent . President Harry S. Truman established
the Central Intelligence Group in January 1946.
Against this FBI was created in 1908. There is
nearly a forty-year gap between the lives of these
two agencies. (CIA - History 2004)
Next while the CIA is a part of the executive
offices of the U.S. President the FBI is does
not enjoy any such status. The President exercises
direct control over CIA and appoints the CIA director
and assistant director himself with consent from
the Senate. The FBI director reports to the U.S.
attorney general though he too is nominated by
the U.S. President.
As for the organization structure both agencies
have a similar structure at the top. Both have
a director and a deputy director. Both have four
additional deputy directors reporting to them.
Each of these additional deputy directors heads
a directorate. The directorates are Operations
Directorate, Science and Technology Directorate,
Intelligence Directorate and Administration Directorate.
The Operations Directorate carries out covert
activities and counterintelligence overseas. The
Science and Technology Directorate interprets
data obtained from a multitude of sources ranging
from telephone and radio transmissions to satellite
photographs. The Intelligence Directorate produces
analyses from records and reports from within
CIA as well as from other intelligence agencies
like the FBI , National Security Agency (NSA)
and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) . The
Intelligence Directorate handles financial, personnel
matters as well as the computer facilities and
internal security and espionage. The FBI has under
its director and deputy director four executive
assistant directors. The responsibilities that
each of these four assistant directors hold are
(i ) criminal investigations, (ii) counterintelligence
(ii) counter terrorism(iii) law enforcement services
and (iv) administration. (CIA - History 2004)
The CIA employs hundreds of field officers throughout
the world to gather intelligence for the United
Sates. Electronic intelligence gathering was more
important during the cold war years following
end of World War II when the U.S. and the USSR
vied for world dominance. This is clearly not
a role for the FBI.
The FBI is responsible for investigating violations
of federal criminal laws. It is also responsible
for protecting the United States from foreign
intelligence and terrorist activities. FBI also
is geared to provide services to other law enforcement
agencies such as fingerprint identification, laboratory
analysis of criminal evidence, police training,
and access to a centralized crime information
database.
CIA on the other hand is responsible for assessing
the long-term potential threat to the United States
by other countries. CIA’s responsibilities
also include identifying terrorists and halting
terrorist attacks, anticipating threats like disruption
of oil supplies. CIA has also been used by U.S.
Presidents to remove governments or leaders of
governments deemed hostile to U.S. interests.
It has aided and abated coup d’état
in such countries.
The major role for CIA at present is to detect
and report the clandestine activities of the anti-U.S.
groups linked to Al-Qaeda who plan attacks on
U.S. interests both in and outside of U.S. This
is a major test and challenge for the agency at
this point in time.
We can clearly see now that the focus of CIA
is on foreign countries and on foreign agents
operating on U.S. soil. FBI on the other hand
is focused on violations of laws within the United
States.
CIA analysts use open sources for their analyses.
These include print and electronic media, speeches
by foreign leaders etc. to predict how a country
is likely to act in the future. This enables the
president, Congress, and other important officials
to formulate effective U.S. policies. The U.S.
political leadership can be said to be the customers
of CIA. The customers for FBI are the same though
they help out all other domestic intelligence
agencies and the police departments with their
expertise in finger print matching, laboratory
tests etc. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
CIA has also, like the FBI, come into a fair bit
of criticism inside the U.S. and in foreign countries.
Its covert operations are looked upon as illegitimate
intervention in other sovereign countries. CIA
involvement of the overthrow of Mosaddeq’s
government in 1953 in Iran is a case in point.
The undemocratic monarchy of the Shah was put
in place to serve U.S. interests. In Guatemala,
the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
intended to take over land in control of a U.S.
owned business enterprise. CIA plotted Arbenz’s
overthrow in 1954 and installed a right-wing dictatorship.
This was followed in 1961 by the attempt to overthrow
the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. About 1,500 Cuban
exiles, trained by CIA, landed at the Bay of Pigs
to stir up a movement. These exiles did not get
any support from the locals and were quickly rounded
up.
FBI agents were sent to CIA since the 1980’s
on counter-terrorism. Although FBI was on board
the CIA did not brief them about the entry of
two suspects entering the U.S. These two suspects
were involved in the September 11 attacks. There
is closer cooperation between these agencies following
the 9/11 tragedy. A new program called TTIC (pronounced
tee-Tick) has been initiated where agents from
both the organizations will work under one roof.
(FBI, CIA analysts to begin working together 2004)
Summary/Conclusion
We have seen the origin and the development
through time of both agencies. We have also described
their organization structure. We have briefly
dealt with their achievements and failures. Our
discussion also includes a brief account of the
public perception of these agencies. These agencies
supplement and complement each other though there
may be some areas where they overlap. Perhaps
in the coming years these two agencies can work
under one command say the Department of Homeland
Security.
List of Works Cited
‘CIA - History’ Retrieved on November
04,2004 from the website
www.fas.org/irp/cia/ciahist.htm
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Retrieved on
November 04,2004 from the website www.cia.gov
FBI, CIA analysts to begin working together 2004
Retrieved on November 04,200.
History of the FBI’ Retrieved on November
04,2004 from the website
www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/ history/historymain.htm
Yahoo! Directory: Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) > History Retrieved on November 04,2004.
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