Question: who does the head of the fbi report to?
Answer: the Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the FBI , the United States ' primary federal law enforcement agency , and is responsible for its day - to - day operations . The FBI Director is appointed for a single 10 - year term by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate . The FBI is an agency of the Department of Justice . Since the 1920s , the FBI has been supervised by the Department of Justice and the FBI Director has answered to the Attorney General . The Director briefed the President on any issues that arose from within the FBI until the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 was enacted following the September 11 attacks . Since then , the Director reports to the Director of National Intelligence , who in turn reports to the President .