In 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation became one of the first U.S. federal agencies to establish a compliance function, quickly becoming an example for other government agencies to follow.
Turning to the private sector for inspiration and using the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines as its guide, the FBI’s first order of business was to combine its already existing ethics unit with the newly created compliance unit. At the time, the FBI’s ethics unit sat in the Office of the General Counsel, but once it was merged with compliance, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller wanted ethics and compliance to be a standalone department—and that is how the FBI’s Office of Integrity and Compliance was born.
