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How did the Bureau of Investigation become the FBI?
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Officers of the French National Police patrolling a housing project.
The Bureau of Investigation was established in 1908 by Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte under the direction of President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as a federal investigative body.12
The agency’s transition into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) occurred through a series of administrative changes and professional growth:
- Reorganization: In 1924, Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone appointed J. Edgar Hoover as director. Hoover professionalized the bureau by recruiting agents based on merit and implementing rigorous training standards.13
- Renaming: The agency was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation in 1932.1
- Final Designation: It received its current name, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1935.1
Under Hoover’s long tenure, the bureau expanded its scope through the creation of a technical laboratory, a national academy for police training, and the development of centralized crime information systems.13