Editing Federal Bureau of Investigation (section)

=== Background ===
In 1896, the [[National Bureau of Criminal Identification]] was founded, providing agencies across the country with information to identify known criminals. The [[Assassination of William McKinley|1901 assassination]] of President [[William McKinley]] created a perception that the United States was under threat from [[Anarchism in the United States|anarchists]]. The [[Ministry of justice|Departments of Justice]] and [[United States Department of Labor|Labor]] had been keeping records on anarchists for years, but President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] wanted more power to monitor them.<ref name="Weiner-ch2">{{cite book |last=Weiner |first=Tim |title=Enemies a history of the FBI |publisher=Random House |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-679-64389-0 |edition=1 |location=New York |pages=11–12 |chapter=Revolution |author-link=Tim Weiner}}</ref>

The Justice Department had been tasked with [[Interstate Commerce Act of 1887|the regulation of interstate commerce]] since 1887, though it lacked the staff to do so. It had made little effort to relieve its staff shortage until the [[Oregon land fraud scandal]] at the turn of the 20th century. President Roosevelt instructed Attorney General [[Charles Joseph Bonaparte|Charles Bonaparte]] to organize an autonomous investigative service that would report only to the [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]].<ref name=FindlayMemo1943>{{cite web |last=Findlay |first=James G. |title=Memorandum for the Director: Re: Early History of the Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/brief-history/docs_findlay43 |work=Historical Documents from the Bureau's Founding |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=August 14, 2012 |location=Los Angeles, CA |date=November 19, 1943 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120703063000/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/brief-history/docs_findlay43 |archive-date=July 3, 2012}}</ref>

Bonaparte contacted other agencies, including the [[United States Secret Service|U.S. Secret Service]], for personnel, investigators in particular. On May 27, 1908, Congress forbade this use of Treasury employees by the Justice Department, citing fears that the new agency would serve as a [[secret police]] department.<ref name=AGreport1908>{{cite web |last=Bonaparte |first=Charles Joseph |title=Annual Report of the Attorney General of the United States, 1908, p.7 |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/brief-history/docs_ar1908 |work=Historical Documents from the Bureau's Founding |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=August 14, 2012 |author-link=Charles Joseph Bonaparte |quote=In my last annual report I called attention to the fact that this department was obliged to call upon the Treasury Department for detective service, and had, in fact, no permanent executive force directly under its orders. Through the prohibition of its further use of the Secret Service force, contained in the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act, approved May 27, 1908, it became necessary for the department to organize a small force of special agents of its own. Although such action was involuntary on the part of this department, the consequences of the innovation have been, on the whole, moderately satisfactory. The Special Agents, placed as they are under the direct orders of the Chief Examiner, who receives from them daily reports and summarizes these each day to the Attorney General, are directly controlled by this department, and the Attorney General knows or ought to know, at all times what they are doing and at what cost. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510200311/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/brief-history/docs_ar1908 |archive-date=May 10, 2012}}</ref> Again at Roosevelt's urging, Bonaparte moved to organize a formal '''Bureau of Investigation''', which would then have its own staff of [[Special agent (United States)|special agents]].<ref name=Weiner-ch2 />