January 19, 2000

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced indictments of Mokhtar Haouari and Abdel Ghani Meskini in the "Borderbom" investigation. The two were charged with collaborating with Ahmed Ressam and others in a wide-ranging terrorist conspiracy to bomb American sites during the January 1, 2000, millennium celebrations. The FBI/New York Police Department Joint Terrorist Task Force, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, and Canada's Department of Justice assisted in the investigation.

May 8, 2000

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, now the Internet Crime Complaint Center, was launched as a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The center serves as a clearinghouse for triaging cyber crime complaints and works closely with a range of law enforcement agencies and private sector organizations.

August 15, 2000

Director Freeh revised the FBI disciplinary system to create a single system for all FBI employees, including those in the Senior Executive Service.

October 2000

FBI investigators and other personnel were dispatched to Aden, Yemen, to assist in the investigation of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.

November 8, 2000

Former Senator Danforth, conducting an independent review of FBI actions in the Waco tragedy, released his final report exonerating the FBI of wrongdoing. In October, the Government Operations Committee had reached a similar conclusion.

January 5, 2001

The FBI publicly announced the National InfraGard program in the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center. The program centers on securely sharing information about computer intrusions and intrusion threats between business and law enforcement so that the confidentiality of potentially affected businesses is protected.

February 18, 2001

FBI Agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested for conspiracy to commit espionage. The affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Hanssen charged that he had engaged in a lengthy relationship with the KGB and its agencies.

June 2, 2001

Louis J. Freeh retired as Director of the FBI.

September 4, 2001

Former U.S. Attorney Robert S. Mueller, III, took the oath of office as FBI Director. He had been nominated by President George W. Bush in June 2001 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on August 2.

September 11, 2001

Following the massive terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, the FBI dedicated 7,000 of its 11,000 special agents and thousands of FBI support personnel to the PENTTBOM investigation. "PENTTBOM" is short for Pentagon, Twin Towers Bombing.

October 2001

Director Mueller ordered all FBI field offices to create joint terrorism task forces/regional terrorism task forces to coordinate counterterrorism efforts across the United States. The first such task force, in New York, was formally created in 1982.

October 18, 2001

In conjunction with the U. S. Postal Service, the FBI offered a reward of $1,000,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person who mailed letters contaminated with anthrax to media organizations and congressional offices.

October 2001

President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act. This anti-terrorism law provided the FBI with additional resources to hire new agents and critical support personnel, employ court approved wiretaps against potential terrorists more easily, seek additional information about potential terrorists more easily, share criminal investigative information with counterterrorism investigators in other government officials, and work with other government agencies to secure our borders and curtail international money laundering.

December 2001

Following the collapse of the energy trading company Enron, the FBI launched what would become the largest and most complex white-collar crime case in its history. Many Enron executives, including Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling, were convicted or pled guilty in the case.

December 3, 2001

In response in to the 9/11 attacks, the FBI announced a series of organizational changes, including the creation of a Cyber Division, an Office of Intelligence (later renamed the Directorate of Intelligence), a chief technology officer, a Security Division, an Office of Law Enforcement Coordination, and new executive assistant director positions.

December 11, 2001

Zacarias Moussaoui was indicted for crimes relating to the 9/11 attacks. In April 2005, Moussaoui pled guilty to six charges against him in connection with his participation in the conspiracy. In May 2006, he was sentenced to life in prison.

January 16, 2002

Richard Colvin Reid, a British citizen and self-professed member of al Qaeda, was indicted for attempting to destroy American Airlines Flight 63 in flight with explosive devices concealed in his shoes. Reid, who later became known as the shoe bomber, pled guilty, and was sentenced to life in prison.

February 5, 2002

John Walker Lindh, an American captured while fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was charged as an al Qaeda-trained terrorist who conspired with the Taliban to kill his fellow citizens. Lindh was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

May 29, 2002

Director Mueller established a new set of 10 priorities for the FBI.

September 13, 2002

The Buffalo Joint Terrorism Task Force executed search warrants in an investigation centering on seven Yemeni-Americans living in Lackawanna, New York. These individuals traveled overseas in the summer of 2001 to attend a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, where they met Usama bin Laden. Six of the individuals were arrested in the U.S. and pled guilty to terrorism-related charges; the seventh was later arrested in Yemen.

October 24, 2002

An extensive investigation by Maryland and Virginia police, the FBI, and many other agencies led to the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, who were responsible for a series of sniper murders in and around Washington, D.C. Among the casualties was FBI intelligence analyst Linda Franklin.

November 18, 2002

A court ruling enabled the FBI to share foreign intelligence information between criminal and intelligence investigations for the first time and allowed terrorism cases to be conducted with the full suite of criminal and intelligence tools and resources.

February 11, 2003

The National Virtual Translation Center was created by Congress to provide timely and accurate translations of foreign intelligence to U.S. intelligence agencies. The FBI serves as its executive agent, conducting background investigations on new hires, testing language skills, and providing space and other administrative support.

March 1, 2003

With the help of the FBI, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the operational mastermind of September 11 and other major al Qaeda terrorist attacks, was captured in Pakistan.

May 1, 2003

The Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) became operational under the leadership of the CIA, with the full partnership of the FBI. The TTIC was responsible for fusing threat information from the FBI and other agencies and providing analysis about the credibility of information and the probability of an attack. TTIC was merged into the National Counterterrorism Center in 2005.

May 31, 2003

A local police officer in Murphy, North Carolina arrested wanted bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, ending a massive five-year manhunt by the FBI and law enforcement authorities. Rudolph pled guilty in 2005 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

September 12, 2003

Each FBI field office was directed to create a Field Intelligence Group. These teams of agents, analysts, linguists, and physical surveillance specialists help pull together, synthesize, and share intelligence locally and nationally.

September 16, 2003

Director Mueller joined the attorney general and other government leaders in announcing the creation of the Terrorist Screening Center to consolidate terrorist watch lists and provide 24/7 operational support for thousands of federal screeners nationwide. The center began operations on December 1, 2003.

December 2003

The FBI Laboratory launched the multi-agency Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center (TEDAC) to coordinate and manage a unified national effort to gather and exploit information on improvised explosive devices recovered in the U.S. and overseas.

April 22, 2004

The FBI launched Operation Fastlink, the largest international enforcement action ever taken to combat global Internet piracy. The FBI was assisted by law enforcement entities from 10 countries.

July 22, 2004

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, more commonly referred to as the 9/11 Commission, released its report. Among its many findings, the report provided recommendations to further strengthen FBI intelligence capabilities. The Bureau had provided a comprehensive summary of its reform efforts to the commission and the nation on April 11.

December 26, 2004

A major tsunami devastated significant parts of Southeast Asia, killing more than 200,000 people in 14 countries. In the aftermath, the FBI provided extensive help identifying the deceased and offered its victim assistance services. The Bureau also investigated numerous cases of relief fraud, especially computer-related spoofing and phishing scams.

August 31, 2005

The FBI disrupted an alleged extremist plot conceived in a California prison. Three U.S. citizens and one permanent U.S. resident originally from Pakistan were planning to attack U.S. military facilities, an Israeli consulate building, and several Jewish synagogues in the Los Angeles area.

September 12, 2005

The FBI established a National Security Branch (NSB) that combines the missions, capabilities, and resources of counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence elements under the leadership of a senior FBI official. In July 2006, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate was created within the NSB to integrate related components previously spread throughout the Bureau.

September 15, 2005

The FBI launched a tip line to collect information on public corruption and government fraud connected to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Immediately following the disaster, the Bureau sent more than 500 agents and other personnel to New Orleans to help secure the city, answer emergency calls, patrol the streets, identify victims, and conduct search and rescue operations. In ensuing months, the FBI investigated many cases involving related scams and public corruption activities.

November 15, 2005

The FBI unveiled the Top Ten Art Crimes list to highlight major cases of stolen works of art.

January 3, 2006

Following an FBI investigation, former political lobbyist Jack Abramoff pled guilty to fraud and other charges related to the corruption of public officials and his activities with American Indian tribes.

January 20, 2006

Eleven members of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front were indicted for a series of domestic terrorist arsons between 1996 and 2001.

February 2006

The FBI launched its Cold Case Initiative, focusing on racially motivated killings from the civil rights era. Since then, special agents from more than a dozen field offices with the assistance of their law enforcement partners, communities, and the media expended thousands of investigative hours tracking down witnesses, pursuing leads, and locating family members who may never have known what happened to their loved ones.

October 11, 2006

U.S. citizen Adam Gadahn was indicted on treason and material support charges for providing aid to al Qaeda. He was the first person charged with treason since World War II. Gadahn has appeared in numerous al Qaeda anti-American videotapes and is currently on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list.

January 19, 2007

Congressman Robert W. Ney was sentenced on multiple charges in connection with the Abramoff scandal, including honest services fraud and making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives.

April 2007

The FBI provided assistance to law enforcement agencies in the investigation of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, which resulted in the loss of 32 lives. The FBI also supported victims of the tragedy.

August 2007

The FBI responded to the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, providing forensic and investigative support to the National Transportation Safety Board, which led the federal investigation.

January 22, 2008

Jose Padilla and two associates were sentenced on charges of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim individuals in a foreign country and to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

August 6, 2008

FBI and Department of Justice officials announced that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was determined to have acted alone in the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five Americans. On February 19, 2010, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service formally concluded the investigation, releasing 30 FBI files totaling 2,720 pages.

December 2008

Five extremists were convicted of conspiring to kill soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey. A sixth co-defendant had previously pled guilty. All six were arrested in May 2007.

March 12, 2009

Financier Bernard Madoff pled guilty to multiple counts of fraud and money laundering after bilking his clients out of billions of dollars. In June 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $170 billion.

August 5, 2009

Former Louisiana Congressman William J. Jefferson was convicted of bribery, racketeering, and money laundering. In November 2009, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $470,000.

September 24, 2009

Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Colorado resident, was arrested for plotting to attack the New York subway system with explosive bombs. Zazi pled guilty to various crimes in February 2010.