grew yet again. By 1978, the number had risen to nearly 8,000 Special Agents and well over 11,000 support
personnel. The Bureau had 59 field offices, and 13 Legal Attaches (McCarthy 167). As the 1980 s began The FBI solved so many espionage cases that the press dubbed 1985 “The year of the spy” spies like Thomas Cavanaugh, Jonathan Pollard, Larry Wu Tai Chin, Randy Miles Jeffries, Bruce Ott, Allan Davies, William Pelton, and the Walkers. Perhaps as a result of the Bureau’s emphasis on combatting terrorism, such acts within the United States decreased dramatically during the 1980 s (Kessler 123). In 1986, Congress had expanded FBI jurisdiction not only to cover terrorist acts against the U.S., but also against U.S. citizens outside the U.S. boundaries.
With New legislation passed during the decade, as well as special authorities granted by the Attorney General, expanded the Bureau jurisdiction yet again in several areas. In the year 1982, the Attorney General William French Smith gave the FBI simultaneous jurisdiction with the Drug Enforcement Agency over federal drug laws (Sheppard 191). The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 and the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Anti-Terrorism
Act of 1986 gave the Bureau extraterritorial jurisdiction when Americans are victimized abroad by terrorists
(Douglass 90). The FBI also received jurisdiction under the 1984 Product Tampering Act, and the 1989 Financial Institution Reform, Recovery, and Enhancement Act. It gave the agency more resources to investigate fraud during the
“savings and loan crisis.” As the jurisdiction grew, so did the Bureau’s workforce. On May 26, 1987, Judge Webster left the FBI to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Then the Executive Assistant Director John E. Otto
became Acting Director and served in that position until November 2, 1987. During that tenure, Acting Director Otto designated drug investigations as the FBI’s fifth national priority. On November 2, 1987, former federal Judge William Steele Sessions was sworn in as FBI Director. Prior to his appointment as FBI Director, Sessions served as the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. He had previously served as a District Judge and as U.S. Attorney for that district. Under Director Sessions, crime prevention efforts, in place since Director Kelley’s tenure, were expanded to include a drug demand reduction program. FBI offices nationwide began working closely with local school and civic groups to
educate young people to the dangers of drugs. Subsequent nationwide community outreach efforts under that program
evolved and expanded through such initiatives as the Adopt-A-School/Junior G-Man Program (Carter 181). By 1988, the FBI employed nearly 10,000 Special Agents and 13,651 support personnel. There were 58 field offices, and 15 Legal Attaches (McCarthy 172). As the 1990 s rolled around Louis J. Freeh was sworn in as the new Director of the FBI on September 1, 1993. Freeh came to the Bureau with great credentials and unusual insight into the Bureau. He had
served as an FBI Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City Field Office and at FBI Headquarters before leaving to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Here Freeh rose up in rank rather quickly and prosecuted many major FBI cases, including the notorious “Pizza Connection” case and the “VANPAC” mail bomb case. He was appointed a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York in 1991. On July 20, 1993, President Clinton nominated him to be the new FBI Director. Freeh was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 6, 1993 (Honnel 57). Six weeks after taking office, Freeh announced a major reorganization to streamline Headquarters operations of the bureau. He eliminated many of the management positions.
Freeh also had certain Selected divisions and offices merged, reorganized, or abolished. Soon after, Freeh
ordered the transfer of 600 Special Agents serving in administrative positions to investigative positions in field offices. To satisfy an aging Agent work force, Freeh gained approval to end a 2-year hiring block on new Agents. Freeh also made changes which affected current FBI employee policies and standards of conduct. These new changes not only strengthened the FBI’s traditionally high requirements for personal conduct and ethics, but also established a
“bright line” between what would be acceptable and what would not (Honnel 65). In continuation of the FBI’s commitment to the advancement of minorities and women within the ranks of the organization, in October, 1993, Freeh had appointed the first ever woman, the first man of Hispanic descent, and the second man of the African-American descent to be named Assistant Director all of which made headlines in the in the ranks of the bureau .
Along with a new director in the 1990 s, old troubles reared their heads with the International terrorism coming to United States shores. And during the 1990s many terrorist cases happened as well the awful (World
Trade Center bombing) in New York. Terrorism from within also showed up in the United States with the unbelievable
(Oklahoma City bombing). One of the if not the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States. In response, Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996, which gave the Bureau additional resources to “meet the increased demands for activities of terrorism.” Several Presidential Decision Directives issued during the latter part of the decade clearly outlined the FBI’s leadership role in countering acts of
terrorism. Other crimes that caused Congress to expand the FBI responsibilities during the 1990s included economic espionage, (the Economic Espionage Act of 1996); health
care fraud (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). As well as abortion clinic violence (the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994); and interstate stalking and spousal abuse (part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994) (Kessler 87). Despite a lack of hiring during the early part of the decade, the number of Special Agents employed by the Bureau in the latter part of the 1990 s still managed to rise to 11,453 by July 1998 (McCarthy 192). The support personnel of the bureau ranks also increased. It
rose to 16,498. While the number of field offices remains at a constant rate of 56, the number of Legal Attaches in
response to the ever-increasing threat of international crime-jumped to 32 during the last 10 years.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations is an absolute necessity in the United States. It not only deals with large government crimes but also with the smaller local crimes with involve the normal everyday individuals such as you and I. As a United States citizen I for one am indeed
grateful for this organization because even through the often bad portrayal by the news and media I have had a
chance to get an in-depth look at the operations and services that the FBI does provide. The FBI without question is an organization that will be around for quite a while and it will serve the people to its fullest potential.
Work Cited Page
Carter, Mike. The FBI. San Francisco, CA: Blackstone Audio publishing, July 1996.
Connelly, Richard. The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Albany, NY: Facts on File, Oryx Press, February 2000.
Douglass, John E. Guide to Careers in the FBI. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Trade, October 1998.
Findley, Paul. The Fuhrer’s Reserve: A Novel of the FBI. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, April 2000.
Gainer, Peter. FBI Secrets: An agents expose. Minneapolis, MN: St Martin s Press Inc, December 1998.
Hamilton, Jeffreys. The Bureau: Inside the Modern FBI. Los Angeles, CA: Replica Books, May 1999.
Harrison, Burton. When No One Pursues: Inside an FBI Investigation. Los Angeles, CA: Golden Shield Press, October 1999.
Kessler, Ronald. The FBI Inside the Worlds most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency. New York, NY: Pocket Books, August 1994.
Sheppard, Warren. Unlimited Access. Philadelphia, PA: Eagle Publishing Company, July 1996.
Porter, Todd. Gangland: How the FBI Broke the Mob. New York, NY: Pocket Books Publishing, June 1995.
Quenton, David. Unlocking the Files of the FBI: A Guide to Its Records and Classification System. Tampa, FL: Scholarly Resources, Inc., January 1993.
Chris Modelski
Independent Study (SOC.)
6-30-00
30e