Recognizing the FBI on their 100th Anniversary

Floor Speech

RECOGNIZING THE FBI ON THEIR 100TH ANNIVERSARY -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2008)

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleague on a bipartisan basis to recognize that in the 100 years since President Theodore Roosevelt created the FBI out of basically an assemblage of Secret Service agents and detectives, what we have done is we have grown 1,000-fold in the number of agents. Clearly today with 30,000 employees, you ask how large has the task of the FBI grown. It has grown 1,000-fold.

Whether in fact it was taking on public corruption throughout this last 100 years or taking on racketeering, white collar crime, taking on the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing and finding out who the true perpetrators were and bringing them to justice, or going after wrongdoing by the most hidden and most influential of corporate America, the FBI has spread out to do its job and do it well.

The Bureau, in fact, has taken the next step since September 11 when its primary task became protecting us from another terrorist attack like the one we experienced in New York, in Washington, and Pennsylvania. Those attacks made it very clear that this elite agency had to do more.

Today more than ever the FBI agents who are spread throughout the world in every embassy and in locations not even known to this body, they deal with counterterrorism in a way that no other agency can. Working hand-in-hand with overseas entities who have the charge for that, they make it their business to ensure that that foreign terrorism doesn't become an American tragedy.

No other group is so prepared to recognize the needs of America and the civil rights of America. The FBI has been a critical tool for President after President to enforce our civil rights laws often against the powerful, even against governors and other elected officials who chose not to recognize the importance of the U.S. Constitution.

The FBI has never been a partisan organization and has, in fact, served each and every administration in a way that we today commemorate and appreciate so much.

Once again, Mr. Speaker, for the first 90-plus years, the FBI was important. After September 11, 2001, the FBI's expanded role is vital.

With that, I urge the passage of this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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