On July 26, 2018, the FBI celebrates 110 years of public service. In honor of this milestone, we reflect on our history and look forward to the future of the organization. At FBI Norfolk, Headquarters, and across all field offices, we are highlighting the FBI’s history and recognizing the people and work of the FBI.

Much has changed since the FBI was established, but many critical attributes remain the same. The Bureau now operates in a digital world where crime not only crosses state lines, but also international borders—in the blink of an eye. However, our best traditions have not changed—our rigorous adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law, and the guiding principles in our motto of Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.

The Norfolk Field Office opened during some of the darkest and most challenging days in our nation’s history. The division was established one week after the United States entered World War II to confront national security threats to coastal Virginia, particularly threats to the region’s key military and shipbuilding facilities. Since then, Norfolk has broadened its work to investigate violent and white collar crime, public corruption, and civil rights. Over the years, the office has targeted local mobsters, street gangs, and outlaw bikers, and dismantled hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The division shut down the most damaging spy ring in U.S. Navy history with the arrest of John Walker in 1985, and continues our counterintelligence and counterterrorism work today.

“I am very proud to be a part of this historic field office and to have been chosen to lead this exceptional team,” said Norfolk Special Agent in Charge Martin Culbreth. “Norfolk is widely known and respected as one of the most effective field offices in the Bureau, and like the rest of the FBI, we have an important mission. Criminals, terrorists, and spies don’t recognize boundaries, territories or jurisdictions, the threats we face are global. Every division in the FBI is faced with the same threats and we share the same purpose—to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

More information about Norfolk’s history has been posted on our Twitter account @FBINorfolk and can be found on our website at https://www.fbi.gov/history/field-office-histories/norfolk.

The FBI was established on July 26, 1908, by Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte with just 34 special agents and was officially named the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. The FBI has grown to nearly 37,000 employees, including more than 13,500 special agents and over 22,800 professional staff employees in 56 field offices, more than 400 resident agencies, and 90 legal attaché offices and sub-offices worldwide.

Follow the FBI on Facebook, Twitter (@FBI and @FBINorfolk), and using the hashtag, #FBI110, for more information.