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 Patriot Act has been used effectively because it has extensive supervision, is completely constitutional, and has helped to protect
Have you ever wondered why the Patriot Act played a big part in history or why it is so important to us? Well the government has compromised our civil liberties through the use of the Patriot Act. They also abused our privacy which wasn’t fair for us. The history of the Patriot Act, the abuse of our rights, and the way everything ended made the Americans feel like they couldn’t trust their government because they felt like they were always being watched.
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.
The Patriot Act allows for government investigators to share information on suspected terrorists with other branches of the government much easier than before 9/11 so that tragedy’s like this can be avoided in the future. While intense backlash has been received regarding the Patriot Act’s effects on immigration, and unlawful surveillance, the small negatives that have yet to been proven true much outweigh the good this law can do in protecting the lives of innocent Americans. With the Patriot Act countless lives have been saved without the masses without even realizing they have been saved. According to a speech given by President Bush three years after he signed the law into place, with the Patriot Act a one man terrorist plan turned into
After the gruesome attacks of 9/11, the United States government passed a legislation called the Patriot Act in attempt to cut down on the terror attacks. This act gives the NSA, or National Security Agency, the ability to oversee our actions. The NSA’s approach to surveilling the population is obtaining the information by tapping into technology, such as phone calls, internet pages and searches, and viewing emails and texts. Thus, controversy has triggered due to the fact that these actions are unconstitutional, and much terrorism that remains. The NSA should be greatly altered because they invade the privacy of Americans, unlawfully goes against the constitution, and we lose our rights.
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. Recently, on January 1st of 2015 the Patriot Act has expired. Many members of government are stuck in a debate if it should be renewed. It should be reauthorized by Congress again as it already has been twice because it is approved and supported by the Constitution. Even though some argue that the Patriot Act infringes
In conjunction with the above mentioned acts of terror, The Patriot Act section 215 that was passed in congress in 2001 in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attach reads. The section 215 reads, access to record items under the foreign intelligence surveillance act. The foreign intelligence surveillance act of 1978 reads, prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign power. When comparing the two acts against the fourth Amendment it is a violation of American’s privacy. The Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
On September 11, 2001 four U.S. planes were hijacked by the terrorist group, al-Qaeda, and were used as weapons of mass destruction in a suicide terrorist attack which targeted four separate U.S. locations. Over 3,000 people died, more than 6,000 people were injured and there was over $10 billion dollars in damage, to property in the United States. These occurrences which took place on September 11, 2001 were among the most devastating hits to the United States in history, to date. [1].
It is impossible to discuss civil liberties and security without talking about 9/11 and the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed almost immediately after 9/11, hugely expanding intelligence agencies ability to investigate potential terrorism. However, critics of the law say that it infringed on the civil liberties of the innocent and did not guarantee proper oversight of law enforcement agencies in their execution and use of these newfound powers.
Although the Patriot Act presents virtually many positives, the overall aspect of its existence is detrimental to the citizens of the United States as a whole. Originally being passed in order to protect the country from acts of terrorism, the specificities of the Patriot Act were never underlined which has since led to a much more generalized definition of what legal actions can be pursued on the basis of the Act. Essentially, the Patriot Act should be abolished because it infringes on constitutional rights of citizens, it lacks effectiveness in its goal, and the manner in which it was passed makes you question whether or not it was fully thought through.
The Patriot Act upholds a standard for the protection of privacy while performing search and seizure actions under the emphases that a physical warrant document is issued to the person that the search is performed on. With that being said, under Section 213 of the Patriot Act, Rule 41 authorizes a search warrant without the immediate notification given directly to the person that the search is performed on. This authority for the delaying notice of the execution of a warrant, is known as a “sneak and peek” (Doyle, 2001) warrant. The delaying of a warrant rest on the notion that a court finds the situation to be a matter of “physical safety to an individual or group, use of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence; intimidation of potential witnesses; or otherwise seriously jeopardize an investigation or unduly delay a trial as the kinds of adverse consequences that justify delay” (Sec. 2705, Doyle. 2001).
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.
The Patriot Act is one of today’s most controversial laws. The law’s official name is the USA PATRIOT Act, which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. The law was passed in 2001 after the September Eleventh terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The act greatly increased the power of the government in preventing terrorism, but it also increased the amount of surveillance that the government performs on citizens. Overall, the Patriot Act may have helped to prevent terrorism, but it came at a cost.
In the 1950, President Harry S. Truman signed the NSC 68, which called for the increase in defense spending, causing it to nearly triple between 1950 and 1953. The NSC 68 outlined United States’ foreign policy after seeing the spreading influence of the Soviet Union after World War II. At the time, the Soviet Union was introducing communism to governments of other countries in hopes of gaining potential allies in the future. The United States, seeing this as an act against liberty and democracy, wanted to stop the spread communism, leading to a new US policy that lasts throughout the Cold War- Containment. Recently, in October 2001, President George Bush signed the US Patriot Act in response to the act of terrorism in September 11, 2001. Trying to strengthen national security as quickly as possible, this act made changes to US law, so that future acts of terrorism could be prevented. This act specifically allows foe the wider uses of actions and tools when looking for harmful terrorists. Although both acts called for enhancing national security and defense when it was needed, the Patriot Act is more effective in not only securing protection for US citizens, but is also a necessary action. In
People fear their loss of privacy, but the government is trying to protect us. The 4th Amendment states that citizens have the right to protect their privacy and should not be violated without a warrant. The Patriot Act was passed to protect citizens from terrorism. However, privacy is always a good thing to have but when it comes to protecting our country national security is the best way to go.