The far-reaching powers of the Patriot Act has substantially empowered our law enforcement agencies and allowed them to apprehend many offenders who otherwise would have gotten away with their crimes. Despite it being contradictious to the fourth amendment of the US constitution, it is not only helping prevent disastrous events in our nation but also equally instrumental in protecting American lives and defending civil liberties. After the endorsement of the Patriot Act, the tools and power it provided to our law enforcement agencies has enhanced our domestic security. This act tore down the legal and bureaucratic walls that would otherwise keep the law enforcement agencies from being able to share vital information freely about the terrorist’s …show more content…
One of the agencies that were granted higher power in the name of security was the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). They implemented securities check points within all US ports. Previously families could either bid farewell or greet their love ones at the gate of their flight. Now this TSA security check points prohibit non-flying costumers to be anywhere in the airport that may possibly have access to an aircraft. The TSA also restricted the type and quantities of items the individuals could take in their carryon luggage into the airplane cabins. They always were sighting the Patriot Act for their reason to continuously add more and more regulations and security technology. When the TSA’s idea of implementing full body x-ray scanners at airport check points became known, there was a loud public outcry against it in the media echoing the citizen’s indignation the mere thought. However, the TSA still moved forward with it and placed the scanners in airports disregarding anything that rose negativity or concerns about their new tool for public
Let’s look at what happen post 9/11. After it’s devastation, the Department of Homeland Security was created to assist in fighting the “war” against terrorism. The DHS implemented many “strategies” to help fight this war, including increasing airport security. American parents protested that TSA agents were groping their kids, and “(Janet) Napolitano (former DHS Secretary) defiantly retorted that if people did not want their children groped, they should yield and use the unpopular full-body machines – the machines being sold by her predecessor, (Michael) Chertoff” (Turley, 3).
Prior to the Patriot act a search warrant was needed, after the Patriot Act a search warrant is no longer required for agents to employ surveillance “…when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes,” (Dept. of Justice). The Patriot Act allows federal officials to gather information for suspected terrorist activity without needing to have evidence. In addition to this, Howard Ball observed that in the seventh title of the Patriot Act information is able to be shared between federal, state, and local law enforcement (52). Banks and Tauber analyzed federal district court decisions on cases regarding the Patriot act and they found, “[T]hey [district courts] are not inclined to protect civil rights and liberties during times of domestic or international conflict.” They continue to note that judicial ideology does not affect the outcomes of these cases, that civil-libertarian interest groups make a deferential decision less likely, and that if a more conservative Senate and president are in power a deferential decision is more
Subsequent, to the September 11th,2001 terrorist attacks, the Department of Justice proposed The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) to prevent future terroristic attacks. According to Preserving Life and Liberty article, the PATRIOT ACT has played an imperative part in “a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from plans of terrorist dedicated to destroying America and our way of life.” Further, Rosemary Jenks emphases in her article “A Summary of the Anti-Terrorism Law’s Immigration – Related Provision” that the PATRIOT Act focuses mainly on “reinforcing the arsenal of tools available to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and federal prosecutors for identifying and disabling terrorist networks operating both
Now in today’s standards, you only have freedom of semi-privacy that the Patriot Act believes is non-threatening. By them monitoring your texts, emails, history along with things you look for in search engines you never truly free to say anything or look up anything you want. Also what followed after this act were the random abductions of people. They take the “random,” person and ship them to another country to loophole their laws of not permitting torturing someone in this country. Instead they hire other countries to do their dirty work.
The moment that the Twin Towers fell in New York, America became destined for change. In the wake of these attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was quickly passed through congress, and signed by then-president, George W. Bush. The act itself gives the FBI and other government agencies the ability to do and use certain methods, many of which are already used by other law enforcement organizations, to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Since then, this piece of legislation has been the center of much debate and controversy. But, there is ample reason to believe that the Patriot Act is needed and effective.
The USA Patriot Act was signed into law on Oct. 26, 2001, due to the need for cooperation among all levels of security. Police and other department agencies were given powerful authority and encouraged to share information. This is to meet the goal for a safer America in times of turmoil including international affairs. But as the years have passed and as terrorist attacks seem to cease, people have begun to question if there’s too many restrictions on law enforcement were called off.
Some said that the Patriot Act turned ordinary citizens into suspects. The Act gave the government permission to access all American’s emails, financial information, personal information and more. Americans also believe that this law created a lack of privacy because it led to tightening of security at airports, sports games, and even schools. National Security Letters (NSL) have since been able to be issued by FBI agents without being approved by a judge.
The Department of Justice drafted the USA PATRIOT Act to increase the federal agencies’ power to use surveillance cameras, conduct search and detect communication both nationwide and from foreign countries to seek out terroristic attacks. In addition, the president that signed this into law was President George W. Bush. In addition, most people would not want the government to secretly spy on them.
The patriot act has in my opion violated the 4th amendment. It has its advantages as far as terrorizim but to normal citzens this is a complete violation of our privacy. bThe late Benjermin Franklin warned us about trading our liberty for sucureity. This act has taken away a lot of our liberties it gives the government way too much power to invade our privacy. They now have unprecedented power to monitor the phone calls, e-mails, without a warrant.
On September 11th, 2001, tragedy struck America. A terrorist attack was carried out resulting in 2,753 Americans killed. America became locked in a war, and it needed more security on its own soil. So, congress passed a law known as the Patriot Act. This allowed the N.S.A (national security agency) to gain information of individual citizens or groups of individuals by using library records, phone calls and other surveillance.
Facebook posts, candlelight vigils, days of mourning, and for Ariana Grande to cancel her tour. Terrorists want reactions, and that is exactly what people give them after every type of terrorist attack. There is nothing wrong with the Facebook posts, candlelight vigils, and dedications. The problem is that is all that is done. The United States government needs to start taking extreme measures to keep citizens safe by monitoring suspected terrorists, and the government needs to start requiring extreme security scans before letting one into any public event.
The police used the act to access internet evidence to locate the criminal. Ridge said in the article “The Patriot Act Enhances National Security”, that “By protecting our freedom, civil liberties are enhanced, not diminished”(Ridge). Using the tools to find the criminals is helping to keep the citizens’ liberties safe. Although to do this, the government needed more communication between each branch to complete each
The Act provides the authority for the sharing of information between the intelligence community and law enforcement agencies in an effort to fight terrorism (McAdams III, no date). The Act allows law enforcement to use surveillance to combat terrorism, allows law enforcement to delay warrant notifications to prevent any negative impact to investigations, and under certain circumstances, gives federal agencies the authority to search business records as required to investigate terrorist activity (Department of Justice, no date). It also provides authority for law enforcement agencies to respond to terrorist activity and assist victims of computer trespassing (Department of Justice, no date). The USA Patriot Act updates and improves the FISA in an effort to fight the war on terrorism.
In the midst of potential war and terror many are worried of what the future holds. This is how the American people felt after the terrible terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The government had to think fast and make brash decisions to protect our country, and The Patriot Act (during the time) was the best solution. The Patriot Act was one of the fastest acts passed, many government officials were only thinking of the present, and ways to prevent foreign attack. The act has been edited several times over the years due to many mistakes of violating individual’s rights.
Civil liberties are rights guaranteed to citizens in the Constitution that the government cannot interfere with, however, in the name of national security, they do. The government sometimes finds it necessary for Americans to give up some of their basic rights to keep the nation protected, but many people find this unnecessary. A law-abiding citizen’s extremely personal information should not be essential to finding terroristic threats within this society. Under no circumstances should an American citizen’s civil liberties be violated in a time of war or crisis, because those are assured rights that are most valuable to their freedom during national conflicts.