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Investigative Programs
Counterintelligence Division |
History and Evolution
The
FBI has been responsible for identifying and neutralizing
ongoing national security threats from foreign intelligence
efforts since 1917, nine years after the Bureau was
created in 1908. The Counterintelligence Division has
gone through a lot of changes over the years—including
several name changes—and at times took on additional
tasks such as terrorism and subversion.
Throughout the Cold War, for example, the division changed
its name several times. But foiling and countering the
efforts of the Soviet Union and other communist nations
remained the primary mission. Read a detailed account
of the Venona
Project, a 37-year effort to decrypt, decode, and
exploit messages sent by Soviet intelligence agencies
through the collaboration of the FBI, the National Security
Agency, the CIA, and several foreign intelligence agencies.
The following chronology shows how the FBI’s Counterintelligence
Division has adjusted and changed over the years to
meet evolving threats.
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Before 1939
FBI held responsibility for foreign counterintelligence (FCI), terrorism and related investigations. Prior to WWI, many of these responsibilities were shared with the Secret Service. Still, the FBI has held primary responsibility for counterintelligence within America since 1917.
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1939
The General Intelligence Division was created to handle FCI and other intelligence investigations.
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1940
A Special Intelligence Service Division was created to send undercover agents to South and Central America to gather intelligence and to effect counterintelligence operations against Nazi agents and supporters operating there. It was closed in 1946 when President Truman created the Central Intelligence Group.
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1941
The General Intelligence Division was renamed National Defense Division.
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1943
The National Defense Division was renamed the Security Division (not to be confused with the Security Division created in 2001).
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1953
Renamed the Domestic Security Division.
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1973
Renamed the Intelligence Division.
(Then, in 1976, Domestic Intelligence/Security investigations, including those involving domestic terrorism, were transferred out, into the Criminal Investigative Division CID.)
- 1993
Renamed the National Security Division NSD.
(In 1994, the domestic terrorism responsibility moved back to NSD.)
- 1999
Counterterrorism Division and Investigative Services Division were created in a Bureauwide reorganization and those responsibilities were transferred out of NSD and CID, into the new division.
- 2001
NSD was renamed the Counterintelligence Division. The Security Division, Cyber Division, and Office of Intelligence were created out of the Counterintelligence Division in December, 2001.
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