FBI Against Terrorism: Investigation and PR

Abstract

Based on the study of a number of examples of politically motivated terrorist attacks and sabotage on the infrastructure of the United States in 1914—1920, the authors examine their background and impact on the development of the (Federal — since 1935) Bureau of Investigation. The authors of this article adhere to the traditional definitions of a terrorist act and sabotage accepted in domestic historical science and law. A terrorist act (terrorist act) is the commission of an explosion, arson or other actions that frighten the population and create the threat of human death, significant property damage or other serious consequences, with the aim of destabilizing the activities of authorities or international organizations or influence their decision-making, as well as the threat of committing the above actions for the same purposes . Diversion is a method of armed struggle, actions of specially prepared units (groups) or individuals in the rear of the enemy to disable military, industrial and other objects, destruction of roads and means of communication, nodes and lines of communication, objects of vital importance of population, disruption of command of troops, destruction of manpower and equipment, influence on the moral and psychological state of troops and the enemy population . The authors conclude that the administrative structure and methods of work of the Bureau of Investigation of the United States have changed due to new threats to law and order in the United States. The article is written in the problem-chronological method: politically motivated terrorist acts are examined first, followed by random (arbitrary) terrorist self-detonations, and this empirical series ends with an account of the 1916 Manhattan War Materials Depot sabotage. We consider the anarchist attacks of 1919, as well as the famous Sacco and Vanzetti case, as two of the earliest and most striking examples of political terror in the United States, to which the young Bureau of Investigation had to respond.