FBI — Top Ten Moments in FBI History - Press Room - Headline Archives 07-18-08
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The Top Ten Moments in FBI History07/18/08
Founding Father: Attorney General Charles Bonaparte Over the course of a century—during which we’ve been involved in just about every major event in U.S. history and had countless innovations and famous cases—it’s hard to pick just ten. But here, in chronological order, are our choices for the top ten moments in FBI history…
1) July 26, 1908 – The Bureau is Born
No surprise on this one. But what you may not know is that our origins were somewhat tentative and filled with political intrigue. By early 1908, Teddy Roosevelt’s Attorney General—Charles Bonaparte—was growing weary of borrowing investigators from other agencies for federal cases under his jurisdiction. When Congress outlawed that practice in May, he had no choice but to pull together his own corps of agents. On July 26, Bonaparte sent a memo to his department announcing this new “force of special agents.” It started small, with just 34 agents and no name. And it was considered something of an experiment by both Bonaparte and Congress. But over time the force started making a difference…and the rest is history. Learn more
2) May 10, 1924 – Hoover Takes the Helm
Appointed to clean up a scandal-plagued Bureau, 29-year-old Acting Director J. Edgar Hoover immediately began instituting a series of reforms that transformed the FBI into the professional law enforcement organization that it is today. Over the next decade, Hoover strengthened the organizational and hiring practices of the Bureau, created a central repository for criminal identification and criminal history records, instituted a technical laboratory (the forerunner of today’s FBI Lab), began gathering and reporting national crime stats, and fostered a rigorous training program for American and international law enforcement alike. Though often remembered more for controversies in his later years, Hoover played a vital role in lifting the overall capabilities and professionalism of the FBI and U.S. law enforcement. Learn more
The scene outside the railroad station shortly after the "Kansas City" Massacre 3) June 17, 1933 – The Kansas City Massacre
It’s hard to imagine today, but for the Bureau’s first quarter-century agents weren’t allowed to make their own arrests, and they only carried weapons in limited cases. That began to change one shocking morning outside a train station in Kansas City, Missouri, when Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd and other gangsters suddenly opened fire on a group of lawmen transporting an escaped con back to prison. Killed in the hail of bullets were two police officers, a police chief, and a Bureau special agent. The public was stunned by what became known as the “Kansas City Massacre,” and Congress responded within a year by authorizing special agents to carry guns, to make arrests, and to tackle a wider array of gangster crime, which has helped us protect the nation ever since. Learn more
4) July 22, 1934 – The Death of Dillinger
John Dillinger, who met his end on July 22, 1934 In many ways, John Dillinger was the most notorious of the Depression-era gangsters, the leader of a ruthless band of gun-slinging bank robbers and crooks who was able to charm the press and American people into believing he was a harmless Robin Hood. Dillinger’s fame and ability to elude the law were reaching disastrous levels when we joined the hunt for him in the winter of 1933/1934. Despite a few stumbles along the way, Bureau agents tracked Dillinger down on July 22 and shot him dead in the streets of Chicago as he reached for his gun. The successful investigation catapulted the largely-unknown agency to worldwide fame and was the beginning of the end of the lawless gangster years. Learn more
5) June 26, 1939 – Getting Ready for War
More than two years before bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, the FBI was already preparing to protect the nation from its wartime enemies. It started when President Franklin Roosevelt signed a secret order in June 1939 putting the FBI (and the Army and Navy to a lesser extent) in charge of homeland security, including espionage, sabotage, and subversion. In June 1940, we were also asked to collect foreign intelligence in Central and South America. Our ensuing “Special Intelligence Service,” or SIS—a little-known initiative even now—ended up producing a trove of intelligence and outing some 887 Axis spies. Though later dissolved with the creation of the CIA, the SIS laid the groundwork for our network of international offices, which are vital to our ability to combat global crime and terror today. And overall, our work before and during the war ensured that not a single act of enemy-directed sabotage was carried out on U.S. soil.
6) September 1, 1947 – To Catch a Spy
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg ride with Morton Sobell (far left), another convicted member of the Rosenberg's spy ring, as the jury deliberates Intelligence was not new to the FBI; neither was cooperating with the Army. But in September 1947, these two things started to come together in a powerful way when Special Agent Wesley Reynolds was briefed on a top secret Army cryptanalytic program and brought decoded Soviet spy messages back to the Bureau. In the spring of 1948, Special Agent Robert Lamphere became interested in these messages and combined his expertise and the Bureau’s growing knowledge of Soviet espionage with the work of the Army’s brilliant cryptanalyst Meredith Gardner. Together, the two began to make sense of Soviet telegrams sent from the U.S. and other western countries during World War II. Soon they were on the trail of Soviet spies like Judith Coplon, Klaus Fuchs, Julius Rosenberg, and many others. Their work and that of their successors—a project now known as Venona—allowed the FBI and its partners to identify more than 100 Soviet agents, keep traitors from accessing crucial national secrets, and start moving more proactively against Soviet intelligence in the 1950s and beyond. When Venona was declassified in 1995, it led to a significant re-evaluation of Cold War history. Learn more
This burnt-out station wagon led to the case name "MIBURN," short for Mississippi Burning. 7) June 21, 1964 – Mississippi BurningBy the early 1960s the civil rights movement was starting to make headway in America, but the backlash from the KKK and others was growing. When three young men who had volunteered to help register African-American voters in Mississippi disappeared suddenly on June 21, 1964, President Johnson called on the FBI to investigate, and we did so rigorously. Within a short time, we found the young men’s burnt-out station wagon (thus the famous case name “MIBURN”), located their bodies, and gathered important evidence that led to indictments. Although it took a long time (decades, tragically) to secure a measure of justice in the courtroom, national outrage over the crime helped spur passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Together with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these laws—for the first time—put real teeth into the FBI’s ability to defend the rights and freedoms of all Americans. We’ve used them to great effect ever since. Learn more
8) October 15, 1970 – New Law of the Land
In the fall of 1970, Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly called “RICO,” as part of a larger bill. What a huge milestone it turned out to be. Finally, the FBI had the legal muscle to go after criminal enterprises like the Mafia the right way—investigating their entire organizations, leaders and all, instead of just individuals who had committed a crime. Thanks to this legislation and other new approaches (like using undercover agents and Title III wiretaps to gather evidence), we were soon working with our partners to dismantle entire mob families from the top down and putting a serious dent in the Mafia’s corrupting and violent ways. We’ve also used the law over the years to combat street gangs, drug rings, corruption activities, and even terrorist financing activities in this country.
9) November 18, 1975 – Domestic Intelligence Redefined
The Watergate complex, site of the famous break-in During the early 1970s, especially after J. Edgar Hoover died in May 1972, revelations began to surface about potential abuses in the intelligence community. In 1975, on the heels of Watergate and the changing political climate it engendered, Senator Frank Church opened a series of hearings unlike any before into domestic intelligence issues. Front and center was the FBI, which was sharply criticized for its investigation of Dr. Martin Luther King, its surveillance practices, and other concerns. In response, the Bureau accelerated its re-evaluation of its domestic security programs and worked with the Attorney General to craft guidelines governing domestic security operations. These changes established clearer parameters for FBI cases and made agents more respectful than ever of the need to protect constitutional rights.
10) September 11, 2001 – America is Attacked
A pair of FBI employees inside the Pentagon shortly after the 9/11 attacks In one horrific morning, everything changed for America—and for the FBI. The attacks quickly became the most massive investigation in our history, with a quarter of all agents and support personnel directly involved. And even before the dust settled, we had a new overriding mission: to stop terrorists before they strike. The FBI had prevented dozens of terrorist plots before 9/11—including nearly 60 during the 1990s alone. But these attacks showed that our strategic capabilities had to improve—that we needed to be more forward-leaning, more predictive, a step ahead of the next germinating threat. What followed was one of the most far-reaching transformations in FBI history, as we strengthened our counterterrorism and intelligence capabilities in profound new ways. The result has been innumerable successes over the past seven years, from heading off developing plots here in the U.S. to helping take out key terrorist operatives overseas by sharing key intelligence and information.
July 22, 2009
FBI — Top 10 Moments in FBI History - SINCE EVERYBODY LIKED MY DILLINGER, HERES A TOP 10
Lawyer: Manslaughter evidence sought at Jackson doctor's office - CNN.com
Lawyer: Manslaughter evidence sought at Jackson doctor's office - CNN.com(CNN) -- Detectives searched the Houston, Texas, medical office of one of Michael Jackson's doctors on Wednesday for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter," the doctor's lawyer said.
Dr. Conrad Murray's office was searched Wednesday for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter."
The search warrant at Dr. Conrad Murray's office "services part of the ongoing investigation into the death of Michael Jackson," Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Gus Villanueva said.
Murray was the doctor who was at Jackson's home when the pop star died on June 25.
Jackson's former nurse, Cherilynn Lee, was also approached by investigators who wanted copies of medical files she had on the singer, Lee told CNN's Nancy Grace on Wednesday. Lee said she handed over the files to officials with the coroner's office.
Ed Chernoff, a Houston lawyer hired by Murray soon after Jackson's death, confirmed that Los Angeles Police detectives and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents used a search warrant to enter Murray's office in northeast Houston on Wednesday morning,
"The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter," Chernoff said in a written statement Wednesday.
Chernoff said members of Murray's legal team were at the medical office during the search, which he said was conducted by members of the DEA, two robbery-homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department and Houston police officers.
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"Law enforcement concluded their search around 12:30 p.m., and left with a forensic image of a business computer hard drive and 21 documents. None of the documents taken had previously been requested by law enforcement or the L.A. coroner's office," Chernoff said.
Tammy Kidd, a spokeswoman at Chernoff's office, told CNN the raid "was absolutely a surprise to us, because we've had open lines of communication this whole time."
DEA, cops search offices of Dr. Conrad Murray »
"Based on Dr. Murray's minute-by-minute and item-by-item description of Michael Jackson's last days, he should not be a target of criminal charges," Chernoff said Tuesday. "Dr. Murray was the last doctor standing when Michael Jackson died and it seems all the fury is directed toward him."
Los Angeles investigators have interviewed Murray twice, Chernoff said. A third interview has not been scheduled, he said.
Police impounded his car, which had been parked at Jackson's Holmby Hills home, the night after Jackson's death. It was released to Murray several days later.
"Dr. Murray is frustrated by negative and often erroneous media reports. He has to walk around 24-7 with a bodyguard," Chernoff said. "He can't operate his practice. He can't go to work because he is harassed no matter where he goes."
At least two investigations are under way into Jackson's death.
The Los Angeles County coroner is waiting for toxicology results to determine a cause of death, while the city police department, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, is looking at the possibility of criminal charges.A coroner's office spokesman said the autopsy findings could be released in the next week or more.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told CNN he would wait for the coroner to determine the exact cause of Jackson's death. "And based on those, we will have an idea of what it is we are dealing (with): Are we dealing with a homicide, or are we dealing with an accidental overdose?" he said.
FIRST REPORT: Bin Laden Son Reported Killed In Pakistan : NPR
Bin Laden Son Reported Killed In Pakistan : NPRBin Laden Son Reported Killed In Pakistan
NPR.org, July 22, 2009 · U.S. officials believe Saad bin Laden — a son of Osama bin Laden — has been killed by an American missile in Pakistan.
Saad bin Laden reportedly spent years under house arrest in Iran before traveling last year to Pakistan, according to former National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.
It's believed he was killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a U.S. Predator drone sometime this year.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official tells NPR that without a body to conduct DNA tests on, it's hard to be completely sure. But he characterized U.S. spy agencies as being "80 to 85 percent" certain that Saad bin Laden is dead.
The U.S. counterterrorism official says Saad bin Laden wasn't important enough to target personally — that he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He was active in al-Qaida, but was not a major player, the official said. He was believed to be in his late 20s.
"We make a big deal out of him because of his last name," the official added.
It's not known whether Saad bin Laden was anywhere near his father when he died.
BIN LADEN SON KILLED BY U.S. MISSILE STRIKE: REPORTS - New York Post
BIN LADEN SON KILLED BY U.S. MISSILE STRIKE: REPORTS - New York PostBIN LADEN SON KILLED BY U.S. MISSILE STRIKE: REPORTS
Last updated: 10:37 pm
July 22, 2009
Posted: 9:02 pm
July 22, 2009The son of Osama bin Laden - a key al-Qaeda terrorist with the blood of dozens of Westerners on his hands from a 2003 bombing - was killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a U.S. Predator, two reports said tonight.
Sa'ad bin Laden is thought to have died in a strike earlier this year, the independent Long War Journal reported on its Web site.
"We're pretty sure but we're not certain," one official told the outlet, which is published by Public Multimedia Inc. "We are hopeful."NPR reported the missile strike was in Pakistan.
The evil heir was described in a US Treasury report as someone who made "key decisions for al Qaeda and was part of a small group of al Qaeda members that was involved in managing the terrorist organization from Iran."
He spent years under house arrest in Iran before traveling last year to Pakistan, according to former National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.
"As of September 2008, it was possible that Sa'ad bin Laden was no longer in Iranian custody," Treasury reported in January.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NPR that without a body to conduct DNA tests on, it's hard to be completely sure.
But he characterized U.S. spy agencies as being "80 to 85 percent" certain that Sa'ad bin Laden is dead.
Officials who spoke to The Long War Journal wouldn't identify where or when the airstrike took place.
But the outlet noted a covert US air campaign has focused heavily on North and South Waziristan regions of Pakistan, hitting high and mid-level Taliban and al-Qaeda leders in the since June 2004.
Though al-Qaeda typically issues a so-called martyrdom statement for senior leaders and commanders killed in battle, there has been none for Sa'ad bin Laden, who is believed to be in his 20s.
He is an operational commander who was involved in the 2003 bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which killed 35 people - including nine Americans - in attacks targeting areas where Westerners were living.
He also is reported to have facilitated communications between al-Qaeda No. 2 thug Ayman al Zawahiri and Qods Force, the notorious special operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, in September 2008 after the deadly attack on the US embassy in Yemen, The Long War Journal said.
The young bin Laden is thought to have entered Pakistan's northwest to meet with Zawahiri in Pakistan sometime in early September, Mike McConnell, the outgoing Director of National Intelligence, told the outlet.