FBI stands for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the main law enforcement agency of the United States government. The FBI investigates serious crimes that cross state lines or threaten national security, such as bank robberies, kidnappings, cyberattacks, terrorism, and organized crime.

Think of how your local police department handles crimes in your town. The FBI operates at a much larger scale, working on cases that affect multiple states or the entire country. When criminals use the internet to commit fraud against people in different states, when someone is kidnapped and transported across state borders, or when foreign spies try to steal American secrets, the FBI gets involved.

FBI agents are federal law enforcement officers who go through intensive training in investigation techniques, law, and physical fitness. They work in field offices across the country and overseas, gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, and building cases against criminals. The FBI also maintains enormous databases of fingerprints, DNA evidence, and criminal records that help solve crimes. Its crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, uses cutting-edge science to analyze evidence from cases nationwide.

The FBI was created in 1908 and has played a major role in American history, from catching notorious gangsters in the 1930s to protecting the country from modern cyber threats.