Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 2000s is a list, maintained for a sixth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...

. At any given time, the FBI is actively searching for 12,000 fugitives. During the 2000s, 36 new fugitives were added to the list. By the close of the decade a total of 494 fugitives had been listed on the Top Ten list, of whom 463 have been captured or located.

FBI headlines in the 2000s

The 2000s (decade) started out badly for the FBI's much needed attempts to upgrade technology. First, the "Trilogy" project went far over the $380 million budget, and behind its three-year schedule. Then,

Virtual Case File Virtual Case File (or VCF) was a software application developed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) between 2000 and 2005. The project was officially abandoned in April 2005, while still in development stage and cost the fe ...

(VCF) planned for completion in 2003, was officially abandoned in 2005, after more than $100 million spent. A new, more ambitious investigation software project, Sentinel, was introduced in 2005 as a replacement for the failed VCF system. In 2001, Robert Hanssen, high within the Bureau, was caught selling information to the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

ns, and Bureau security practices came into question. In 2002 the FBI's official top priority became

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

, followed second by counterintelligence. The

USA PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

granted the FBI increased monitoring powers. The

9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...

in 2004 blamed the FBI in part for not pursuing intelligence reports which could have prevented the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. In consequence, the Bureau came under oversight by the new

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Co ...

FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 2000s

The FBI in the past has identified individuals by the sequence number in which each individual has appeared on the list. Some individuals have even appeared twice, and often a sequence number was permanently assigned to an individual suspect who was soon caught, captured, or simply removed, before his or her appearance could be published on the publicly released list. In those cases, the public would see only gaps in the number sequence reported by the FBI. For convenient reference, the wanted suspect's sequence number and date of entry on the FBI list appear below, whenever possible. The following

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

s made up the top Ten list to begin the 2000s: FBITenheader

FBI Most Wanted Fugitives added during the 2000s

The list of the most wanted fugitives listed during the 2000s fluctuated throughout the decade. As before, spots on the list were occupied by fugitives who had been listed in prior years, and still remained at large. The list includes (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

2000–2003

2004–2009

End of the decade

As the decade closed, the following were still at large as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives:

FBI directors in the 2000s

* Louis J. Freeh (1993–2001) *

Thomas J. Pickard Thomas Joseph Pickard (born January 6, 1950) is a former acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 71 days in the summer of 2001 following the resignation of Director Louis Freeh. Early life and education Born in Woodside, Queen ...

(2001) *

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...

(2001–2013)

References

External links

Current FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fbi Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s 2000s in the United States