The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (
FBI) is a
governmental agency belonging to the
United States Department of Justice that serves as both a
federal criminal investigative body and an internal
intelligence agency (
counterintelligence). Also, it is the government agency responsible for investigating crimes on
Native American reservations in the United States under the
Major Crimes Act. The FBI has investigative
jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of
federal crime.
The bureau was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI). Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935. The FBI
headquarters is the
J. Edgar Hoover Building, located in
Washington, D.C. The bureau has fifty-six
field offices located in major cities throughout the United States, and more than 400 resident agencies in lesser cities and areas across the nation. More than 50 international offices called "legal
attachés" exist in
U.S. embassies and consulates general worldwide.