FBI Video Notes
The FBI crime lab is a major center for fighting crime and terrorism using forensic science.
In April 2003, the FBI opened a new crime lab in Quantico, Virginia.
The new lab is almost 500,000 square feet, nearly three times larger than its previous location in Washington, D.C.
The facility cost over $150 million to build and equip, and construction took four years.
The building was nicknamed “Battlestar Galactica” because of its futuristic design and advanced technology.
The building was designed to protect evidence from contamination and keep it secure.
Offices are located in the front of the building, while most of the back area contains laboratories.
The offices and laboratories have separate air systems to prevent contamination.
Evidence enters through special handling areas, some large enough for tractor trailers.
Forensic science involves collecting and studying evidence from crime scenes to connect it to people.
The FBI crime lab contains 25 specialized units, including fingerprint, firearms, DNA, chemistry, and trace evidence units.
The lab employs nearly 700 people, including scientists, technicians, and laboratory assistants.
The FBI crime lab helps law enforcement agencies across the United States and around the world.
State and local law enforcement agencies can use the lab’s services free of charge. The FBI provides analysis, reports, and expert testimony.
The lab receives more than 600 pieces of evidence from outside agencies each day.
The FBI crime lab began developing in the late 1920s after the Sacco and Vanzetti case showed the importance of forensic evidence in court.
In that case, bullets fired from a suspect’s gun were used as evidence.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover became interested in forensic science and asked Special Agent Charles Appel to study crime laboratory work.
Appel recommended creating a separate division for scientific crime investigation.
On September 14, 1932, the FBI crime lab officially opened in a small room in the Southern Railway building in Washington, D.C.
The original lab had very limited equipment, including an ultraviolet light, a machine for examining gun barrels, and one microscope.
Charles Appel was the lab’s only employee at the beginning.
One of the lab’s early cases involved the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s baby.
Handwriting analysis helped connect Bruno Richard Hauptmann to the ransom notes. He was convicted and executed for the crime.
The lab moved to the Justice Department building as it expanded.
In 1936, the lab became one of the first to test the polygraph, also known as a lie detector.
In 1937, the lab began using spectrographic analysis to identify chemicals by studying how they absorbed light.
In 1940, the lab became an official FBI division with its own director.
During World War II, the lab helped investigate espionage and developed a way to reveal invisible handwriting.
This work helped investigators capture eight Nazi saboteurs who landed on Long Island, New York.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the lab continued expanding its forensic methods, including blood testing through its serology unit.
By the 1970s, forensic science had become an important part of criminal investigations.
Physical evidence is often more reliable than eyewitness descriptions because witnesses can make mistakes.
The lab adopted new technologies such as hair analysis, chemical testing, and DNA analysis.
DNA evidence has helped investigators solve crimes and identify people who were wrongly convicted.
The FBI crime lab once struggled to receive accreditation because its old facilities were too small and lacked proper clean rooms.
In 1997, Congress approved funding for the new crime lab.
The new facility gave scientists more space and better equipment to analyze evidence safely and accurately.
The firearms and toolmarks unit is one of the FBI crime lab’s oldest units.
This unit examines guns, bullets, and cartridge cases to determine whether ammunition came from a particular firearm.
The inside of a gun barrel contains raised areas called lands and recessed areas called grooves. These help a bullet spin as it travels.
The inside of each barrel develops microscopic marks from manufacturing and wear.
Investigators compare these marks on bullets to determine whether they may have been fired from the same gun.
If the marks do not match, investigators can eliminate that firearm as the source.
To collect a test bullet, examiners fire the suspected gun into a long water tank. The water slows the bullet so it can be recovered and examined.
Examiners compare test bullets with bullets recovered from crime scenes using comparison microscopes.
The FBI maintains a reference collection of nearly 6,000 firearms.
The collection is used for training and for examining how different weapons work.
Investigators can study a duplicate firearm before taking apart an evidence gun, helping protect the original evidence from unnecessary damage.
The collection includes historically important weapons connected to criminals such as John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd.
Firearms examiners help courts understand evidence and can help both convict guilty people and clear innocent people.
The explosives unit examines bombs and evidence from explosions.
Explosive devices contain material that releases energy and a way to initiate the explosion.
Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are especially concerning because homemade designs can be unfamiliar and dangerous.
One of the unit’s largest investigations involved Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
The crash created a crime scene covering nearly 800 square miles.
Residents of Lockerbie helped investigators by collecting objects, recording where they found them, and turning them over as evidence.
Investigators examined damaged metal for signs of a high-powered explosion.
The explosion caused distinctive metal damage that could be separated from damage caused by the aircraft breaking apart.
This evidence helped investigators determine that a bomb had been hidden in a piece of luggage.
FBI investigator Tom Thurman later recognized a small piece of plastic from a timer.
An expert connected the piece to a timer found in another unexploded bomb in Africa.
This connection helped investigators identify the makers of the bombs and link the investigation to Libyan intelligence officials.
Two Libyan intelligence agents were charged in connection with the bombing and were later found guilty in a trial held in their absence.
The explosives unit treats investigations like complicated puzzles, using small pieces of evidence to understand what happened.
The latent-print unit specializes in identifying people through fingerprints.
Fingerprint patterns have been recognized for centuries, but they eventually replaced older identification systems based on body measurements.
The Bertillon system identified people by measuring parts of their bodies, such as the length of their arms and the size of their heads.
In 1905, the case of two men named William West at Fort Leavenworth prison showed the weakness of body measurements. Their measurements matched, but their fingerprints were different.
Fingerprints became a more reliable method of identifying individuals.
The FBI began creating fingerprint records in 1924 and started using fingerprints collected from crime scene evidence in 1933.
Latent fingerprints are hidden fingerprints left behind when someone touches an object.
Sweat and other substances from the skin transfer onto objects and can leave behind fingerprint patterns.
These substances contain water and other chemical materials that help examiners develop hidden prints.
John Dillinger tried to change his appearance and damage his fingerprints to avoid identification.
Although the tips of his fingers were damaged, examiners could still identify him using fingerprint patterns from lower sections of his fingers.
In the 1930s, the lab had only three methods for developing latent fingerprints. Later, it developed nearly 80 different methods.
Some methods use chemical powders or liquids, while others use special light sources and chemical fumes.
A chemical called amido black can reveal fingerprints left in blood by reacting with proteins in the blood.
In the 1970s, the lab used laser technology to find a fingerprint on a decades-old postcard connected to Valerian Trifa.
Trifa was accused of hiding his past involvement with Romania’s pro-Nazi Iron Guard during World War II.
Investigators needed a way to find fingerprints without damaging the historical postcard.
A laser helped reveal a hidden fingerprint that had remained undetected for 41 years.
The fingerprint connected the postcard to Trifa, and he was eventually deported.
Modern lasers and other special light sources help investigators find fingerprints on evidence without always needing chemicals.
The FBI has also worked toward capturing three-dimensional images of fingerprints rather than relying only on traditional two-dimensional impressions.
DNA is another powerful method of identifying individuals and is often described as the biological equivalent of fingerprints.
DNA contains genetic information and is found in nearly every cell in the human body.
The FBI spent three years developing DNA testing methods for investigating violent crimes.
The lab began using DNA technology in its casework in December 1988.
There are two main types of DNA used in forensic investigations: nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA.
Nuclear DNA is found in the nucleus of a cell and contains genetic information related to physical traits.
Mitochondrial DNA is found in mitochondria, which are structures inside cells.
Cells contain many more copies of mitochondrial DNA than nuclear DNA.
Because mitochondrial DNA is more plentiful, it can be useful when evidence is old, damaged, or exposed to the environment.
Mitochondrial DNA testing can help investigators examine evidence such as bones that may not provide enough usable nuclear DNA.
The National DNA Index System connects more than 170 crime laboratories so they can share DNA information.
The documentary reported that the database contained more than 1.5 million convicted offender profiles at the time.
The FBI said its DNA technology had helped solve more than 6,000 cases.
DNA evidence allows investigators to compare crime scene samples with known profiles and information stored in the database.
The chemistry and trace evidence units examine tiny pieces of evidence that may connect a person to a crime scene.
Trace evidence can include hairs, fibers, glass, and soil.
People can leave behind materials from the places they visit and pick up materials from those places without realizing it.
Investigators look for materials that do not normally belong on an item, such as fibers on clothing or hairs on a surface.
Examiners use microscopes to study hairs and fibers and compare their appearance and properties.
Fluorescent microscopy helps determine whether materials react to light in similar ways.
The Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, or FTIR, helps identify the chemical structure of materials.
FTIR can identify specific types of fibers, including different forms of nylon.
Hair and fiber evidence is often strongest when several pieces of evidence connect the same person to multiple victims or locations.
In 1979, a series of murders in the Atlanta area led investigators to examine fibers found on victims.
The bodies were found in wooded areas, and investigators noticed similar fibers on multiple victims.
Some bodies were later found in the Chattahoochee River, suggesting someone was trying to remove evidence.
Police began watching bridges in the area for suspicious activity.
Wayne Williams, a 23-year-old music promoter, was stopped after police heard a splash in the river near a bridge.
Williams claimed he had thrown garbage into the river.
When another body was found nearby two days later, investigators focused more closely on him.
Hair and fiber evidence connected Williams to victims and linked materials from victims to his car and home.
Some of the fibers were unusual, making the connections especially important.
Williams was convicted of murder and received a life sentence. The documentary states that the case relied on hair and fiber evidence.
The chemistry unit uses advanced instruments to identify substances found in evidence.
In 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 exploded shortly after leaving Denver, killing 44 people.
Investigators found sodium carbonate on pieces of the wreckage. Further analysis showed it was residue associated with a TNT explosion.
This discovery helped reveal that the aircraft had been destroyed by sabotage.
The chemistry lab uses instruments that study how chemicals absorb or emit light, separate mixtures into individual substances, and measure the properties of chemicals.
Mass spectrometry helps identify chemicals by measuring their mass and other characteristics.
A time-of-flight mass spectrometer measures how long particles take to travel through an instrument.
Different particles travel at different speeds depending on their mass and properties.
This technology allows scientists to distinguish substances with much greater precision than older instruments.
The events of September 11, 2001, changed the FBI’s priorities and increased its focus on preventing terrorism.
The FBI crime lab developed and expanded units that respond to dangerous crime scenes involving hazardous materials.
The Hazardous Materials Response Unit, or HMRU, helped investigate the anthrax letters sent through the mail after the September 11 attacks.
Investigators worked with the Washington Field Office to collect evidence and examine mail connected to the anthrax investigation.
The unit helped search and sort mail in Springfield, Virginia, where a letter addressed to Senator Patrick Leahy was found.
HMRU personnel use protective equipment to guard against toxic chemicals, biological materials, and radioactive or nuclear hazards.
Their equipment includes protective suits, gloves, boots, masks, and detection devices.
Different levels of protective clothing are used depending on the danger at a scene.
Level A protection provides the highest level of skin and respiratory protection and includes a sealed suit.
The Bomb Data Center supports public safety bomb technicians by providing training information and collecting intelligence about explosive devices.
Bomb disposal robots help technicians examine and move suspicious objects without approaching them directly.
The documentary explains that protecting the bomb technician is more important than protecting the robot because the robot can be replaced.
The Andros robot shown in the video has cameras that allow an operator to see the area and control its movements remotely.
The robot can carry heavy loads and use a water-based disruption system to help separate or open parts of a suspicious package.
The FBI does not publicly share all details about how these systems are used because some methods are sensitive.
The Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit originally focused on traditional forensic science research.
After September 11, its work shifted toward helping prevent and disrupt terrorist activities.
The unit develops investigative resources that help FBI field offices identify and understand weapons connected to terrorist incidents.
The FBI crime lab combines traditional forensic methods with modern technology to investigate crimes and terrorism.
Its scientists and technicians work to identify evidence, uncover what happened, support victims, and help protect the public.