When the Federal Bureau of Investigation was created, it was to make sure that people followed federal law and judicial policy, they did not have investigators on staff that would be permanent on the team. When it was founded in 1906, it hired private investigators when they needed to investigate federal crimes and later paid other investigators from other federal agencies to work for them for a short period of time, such as the Secret Service, established by the Department. of the Treasury to investigate money counterfeiting. In the early 20th century, the Attorney General was allowed to hire some investigators who would be permanent and could remain at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Chief Examiner, which consisted primarily of accountants, who were created to monitor the financial transactions of federal courts. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Seeking to form a more independent and efficient investigative team, in 1908 the Justice Department hired ten former Secret Service employees to join an expanded Office of the Chief Examiner. “The force included 34 officers and Attorney General George Wickersham, renamed it the Bureau of Investigation.” (History Channel) The federal government used the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a tool to investigate criminals who avoided prosecution by crossing state lines and possibly send them to prison; within a few years the number of agents had grown to exceed more than 300. The agency has been opposed by some, who feared that its growing authority could lead to abuses of power. “With the United States' entry into World War I, the Bureau was given the responsibility of investigating draft resisters, violators of the Espionage Act of 1917, and immigrants suspected of radicalism” (History Channel). In the 1920s, when Congress approved it, Director Hoover radically reshaped and expanded the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He turned it into an efficient crime-fighting machine, creating a central fingerprint repository, a crime lab, and a training school for new agents. In the 1930s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a battle against the epidemic of organized crime caused by Prohibition. Famous gangsters such as George Kelly and John Dillinger were finished off, while others, such as Louis Buchalter, were investigated and successfully prosecuted by Hoover's special agents. “Hoover, who had a good eye for public relations, participated in several of these publicized arrests, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as it was known after 1935, became highly regarded by Congress and the American public.” (History Channel). With the outbreak of World War II, Hoover revived the anti-espionage techniques he had developed during the United States' first Red Scare, and domestic wiretaps and other forms of electronic surveillance expanded greatly. After World War II, Hoover focused on the threat of radical espionage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled files on millions of Americans suspected of suspicious activity. By the time Hoover began his eighth presidential term in 1969, everyone, including Congress, had begun to suspect that the FBI might be abusing its authority. For the first time in his career, Hoover endured widespread criticism, and Congress responded by passing laws requiring Senate confirmation of future directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and limiting their terms to 10.