FBI - FBI

Abbreviation for Federal Bureau of Investigation. An organization under the Department of Justice (federal prosecutor's office) with the only nationwide police investigation, investigation, and arrest authority in the United States. It has a strong political and security police color. It is usually translated as Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it has much broader and powerful authority than just investigation. It was established in 1908 under Director of the Department of Justice Bonaparte by placing a small number of investigators in the department, despite strong resistance from Congress. In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the bureau as a part of the department, and its activities as a political secret police were strengthened. In the 1920s and 1930s, it became famous for its gangster hunting (the activities of the so-called G-men), and in 1935 it was renamed the FBI. Since then, Director Hoover's FBI has been a secret police force that even successive presidents who had the power to appoint and dismiss feared.

The FBI only has the power to arrest criminals in the act, but does not have the power to prosecute. However, the FBI cooperates with and guides state and local police, and is particularly responsible for cracking down on (1) bank robberies, (2) interstate crimes, (3) hijackings, (4) crimes committed by federal government officials, and (5) so-called "subversive activities" against the nation. The FBI's unique feature is that it uses wiretapping, private mail opening, and tailing to collect secret files on the public and private lives of all citizens, including politicians and high-ranking government officials, which silently oppresses the lives of American citizens in a democracy. McCarthyism in the 1940s and 1950s during the Cold War could not have been established without FBI files. Even after the death of Director Hoover in 1972, and until now, even after the end of the Cold War, the heads of each ministry and ambassadors appointed by the president could not take up their posts without FBI security clearance. Currently, the FBI is actively cooperating and exchanging information with similar police organizations in other countries, including Japan.

[Rikui Saburo]

"FBI Director Hoover: Dictator" by W. Sullivan and B. Brown, translated by Masao Tsuchiya (1981, Chuokoron-Shinsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

連邦捜査局Federal Bureau of Investigationの略称。アメリカ合衆国唯一の全国的な警察的捜査・調査・逮捕権限をもつ司法省（連邦検察庁）下の組織。政治・治安警察的色合いが濃い。通例は連邦捜査局と訳されるが、捜査だけでなく、はるかに広い強大な権限をもつ。1908年ボナパルト司法省長官のもとで議会の強い抵抗にあいながら、同省内に少数の捜査官を置くことで発足。24年、同省内の一部局としてJ・エドガー・フーバーが局長に任命されてから政治的秘密警察としての活動が強化され、20～30年代にギャング狩り（いわゆるGメンの活動）で名をあげたことから、35年FBIと改称した。以来フーバー長官のFBIは、任免権をもつ歴代大統領も恐れるほどの秘密警察ぶりをほしいままにした。

　現行犯の逮捕権だけで起訴権限はないが、州・地方警察と「協力」、指導し、ことに(1)銀行強盗、(2)州際間犯罪、(3)ハイジャック、(4)連邦公務員の犯罪、(5)国家へのいわゆる「破壊活動」取締り、などがFBIの担当である。なんといってもFBIの特徴は、盗聴・私信開封・尾行などを駆使しての政治家・政府高官を含むあらゆる市民の公私生活に関する秘密ファイルが民主主義下のアメリカ市民生活への無言の圧迫となっていることである。冷戦下の1940～50年代のマッカーシズムは、FBIのファイルなしには成立しえなかった。フーバー長官の死（1972）後も、冷戦終結後のいまに至るまで、大統領によって指名された各省の長官や大公使さえも、FBIの安全証明(クリアランス)なしには実質的に就任しえないほどである。現在では日本を含む各国の同種の警察組織との協力・情報交換も活発である。

［陸井三郎］

『W・サリバン、B・ブラウン著、土屋政雄訳『FBI　独裁者フーバー長官』（1981・中央公論社）』

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