A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation

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www.fbi.gov

Statement for the Record

Good afternoon, Chairwoman Shaheen, Ranking Member Moran, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. Each day, Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) personnel are making a real difference in communities across the nation, tackling some of the most complex national security and criminal threats with perseverance, professionalism, and integrity—sometimes at the greatest of costs. I am extremely proud of their service and commitment. On their behalf, I ask for your support and pledge to be the best possible stewards of the resources you provide. I would like to begin by providing a brief overview of the FBI’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, and then follow with a short discussion of key threats and challenges that we face, both as a nation and as an organization.

FY 2025 Budget Overview

The FY 2025 budget request proposes a total of $11.3 billion in direct budget authority to carry out the FBI’s national security, intelligence, criminal law enforcement, and criminal justice services missions. The gross request includes a total of $11.3 billion for salaries and expenses, which will support 37,083 positions (13,623 special agents, 3,337 intelligence analysts, and 20,123 professional staff), and $61.9 million for construction. The request includes program enhancements under salaries and expenses, including $7.0 million to enhance cyber investigative capabilities, $17.8 million to mitigate threats from foreign intelligence services, and $8.4 million to address the increased volume of firearms background checks. The request also provides funding to allow the FBI to fund critical national security and law enforcement positions reduced as a result of reductions in the FY 2024 enacted appropriation. Congress has long supported these positions in years past, and the safety and security of the American people would be well served by allowing the FBI to continue filling these positions in FY 2025 through the requested budget.

As described in this threat summary, our adversaries are not scaling back their efforts because of the constrained budget environment. In fact, threat actors may try to take advantage of federal budget reductions to conduct nefarious activities. The FBI cannot afford to be playing catch-up to the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), Hamas, transnational organized criminals coming across the border, and cyber actors. With the requested resources, the FBI will have the talent, tools, and authorities to do more to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.

Key Threats and Challenges

Over the past year, the threats facing our nation have escalated. These threats emanate from myriad sources—nation-states, hostile foreign intelligence services, and criminals. They range from homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) to sophisticated cyberattacks, from internet-facilitated sexual exploitation of children to human trafficking, from violent gangs and criminal organizations to public corruption and corporate fraud. Keeping pace with these threats is a significant challenge for the FBI, especially as technology evolves and allows adversaries to use the internet and social media to facilitate illegal activities, recruit followers, encourage terrorist attacks and other illicit actions, to spread misinformation, and to disperse information on building improvised explosive devices and other means to attack the United States. Cyber actors also exploit technology to infiltrate U.S. networks, steal our intellectual property and secrets, spread malware, hold our critical infrastructure at risk, and create chaos. The breadth of these threats and challenges are as complex as at any time in our history, and the consequences of not responding to and countering threats and challenges have never been greater.

The support of this committee in funding the FBI to do its part in thwarting these threats and facing these challenges is greatly appreciated. That support will allow us to establish strong capabilities and capacities to assess threats, share intelligence, leverage key technologies, and—in some respects, most importantly—hire the best personnel to serve as special agents, intelligence analysts, and professional staff. We have built, and are continuously enhancing, a workforce that possesses the skills and knowledge to deal with the complex threats and challenges we face today—and will face tomorrow. We are building a leadership cadre that views change and transformation as a positive tool for keeping the FBI focused on the key threats facing our nation.

Read Full Statement Here…(fbi.gov)

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