FBI's Primary Mission? Not Law Enforcement Anymore

The FBI fact sheet used to read, "The primary function of the FBI is law enforcement." But now, Foreign Policy reports, it's been changed to read, "The primary function of the FBI is national security." It's no big surprise, considering that ever since 9/11, the FBI has been slowly moving deeper into the realm of counterterrorism—this just makes the move official. Even so, some are questioning why the change was made now (or, more accurately, over the summer; a national security lawyer who last month noticed the change dug in and discovered that's when the revised sheet was first distributed). And criticism has been raised, considering the number of violent crime, property crime, and white-collar crime cases investigated by the FBI has been on the decline as more agents are focused on counterterrorism. "Are there cases they missed?" says one former agent. "Probably." (More FBI stories.)