FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVILLANCE ACT This act was created in 1978. It proposes methods for gaining judicial permission in order to carry out physical and technological search for a person, who might be a terrorist threat for USA, on behalf of a foreign power. In 1970, a man named Christopher H. Pyle discovered that the US army intelligence had hired 1500 officers whose job was to spy on protest or public demonstration that involved more than 20 people. This shocking news immediately captured the attention of Senator Sam Ervin, who was the chairman of a sub- committee of senate related to constitutional rights. Though Sam Ervin strongly condemned this act of US intelligence but he had very little authority to take a step against it. It was due to brave men like Christopher H. Pyle and Senator Sam Ervin that people came to know that how the government was ignoring and violating the provisions to the constitution. This violation of rules and laws by the government led towards the formulation of foreign intelligence surveillance act. The primary feature of this act was as follows; "the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ("FISA Court") which allows the executive branch to secretly obtain warrants for electronic surveillance but only with strict judicial review" Previously there were seven members of foreign intelligence surveillance act court but now the number has been extended to eleven. All of these members are appointed by the chief justice of
Congress ushered in the Patriot Act by arming law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism by expanding federal officials’ powers to keep tabs on our personal information, from credit card use to cell phone calls to car travel. It allows investigators to use the tools that were
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was originally enacted to protect entities from abuse of surveillance for national security reasons. FISA contains policies associated with the process of gathering foreign intelligence by the intelligence community for national security reasons (Addicott & McCaul, 2008, p. 46-47). FISA also consisted of a secret court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which had eleven unnamed federal judges who issued warrants regarding surveillance or searches for the intelligence community, and a court review board, which consisted of three federal judges who reviewed the actions of the secret court. After the passing of the Patriot Act by the Bush Administration, the NSA was essentially given full authority to collect information on citizens without a warrant, thereby circumventing the FISC, and Bush fully defended the NSA, stating “‘The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time.’” (Schwartz 2009
After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 the United States became a very different place. This drastic change was caused by the initial emotional reactions that American citizens, as well as government leaders had towards the tragic event. The government, in an effort to assure that these events never happen again passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which is an acronym that stands for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. The major goal of this act is to combat terrorism by giving the government more leeway in what areas they are allowed to use their surveillance tools and also to what circumstances these tools can be used. The major issue that arise with this act are the fact that many of the act can be seen as unconstitutional.
Another pro of FISA, and the applicable amendments that followed, is the ability for electronic surveillance to be conducted without a court order for a designated length of time to better facilitate collection and streamline the process under USC. 1802, Sec 102. There are, of course, steps required by high ranking officials, the President and Attorney General, which must be taken to conduct such surveillance without a court order. Also, the criteria to conduct the surveillance is restricted specifically to communications exclusively between foreign powers and must not include “substantial likelihood” that the surveillance will acquire communications pertaining to a United States Person. [4] While the appropriate legal process should always be followed, this provision is necessary at times to bypass the lengthy legal process for obtaining a court order when time restrictions apply.
The basis of the USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept
In 1917 the United States government enacted a much disputed law entitled the Espionage Act. It had been debated in the years leading up to the United States involvement in World War I. Faced with outspoken citizens who were critical of any direct participation in the war and with a growing fear that any public dissent would make it difficult to conscript the needed man power for U.S. involvement, President Woodrow Wilson’s administration looked to make such actions criminal. Throughout the almost 100 year history of the Espionage Act it has come to blows with the United States Constitution, particularly the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, on many occasions. Thousands of American’s have been charged under the Espionage Act’s
On September 11, 2001, the Unites States suffered massive destruction caused by terrorism. Four planes were hijacked by terrorist. Nearly, three thousand lives were lost when two planes crashed into the World Trade Towers, one crashed into the Pentagon, and the final plane crashed in Pennsylvania before it could reach its final destination. An immense fear spread across the country and out of this fear came the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct the Terrorism, also known as the USA Patriot Act.
The Patriot Act, an act passed by Congress in 2001 that addressed the topic of privacy in terrorist or radical situations, is controversial in today's society. Although it helps with protection against terroristic events, The Patriot Act is not fair, nor is it constitutional, because it allows the government to intrude on citizens' privacy, it gives governmental individuals too much power, and because the act is invasive to the 4th amendment right. To further describe key points in the act, it states that it allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking, and it allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred.
Ever since the American public was made aware of the United States government’s surveillance policies, it has been a hotly debated issue across the nation. In 2013, it was revealed that the NSA had, for some time, been collecting data on American citizens, in terms of everything from their Internet history to their phone records. When the story broke, it was a huge talking point, not only across the country, but also throughout the world. The man who introduced Americans to this idea was Edward Snowden.
The use of intelligence gathering efforts of the United States in clandestine operations incognito with significant levels of deception is often rarely open to the American public. The intelligence agencies’ empowerment by the Federal government continues their surveillance methods and information gathering techniques often without interference in the name of national security. Since the release of the intelligence gathering methodologies by the National Security analyst Edward Snowden, there has been a significant amount of public scrutiny regarding intelligence operations and concise scholarly research clarifying its controversial approaches. The circumstances that surround the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act continues to center on the inability of the U.S. government to balance the legal authority of the USA PATRIOT Act with that of the right of the American public to privacy as the constitution affords.
5.) Patriot Act - The law is intended to help government agencies detect and prevent possible acts of terrorism, or sponsorship of terrorist groups. The U.S Pariot Act permits the government to scrutinize peoples' reading habits by monitoring public library and bookstore records, without notifying the suspect. It also allows for "sneak and peak" tactics such as physical search of property and computers, wiretapping and monitoring of email, and access to financial and educational records, without providing notification.
The second part of the expansion broadened the FISA definition for agents of foreign powers, removing the requirement for individuals to have established connections or affiliations with foreign powers (Bloom and Dunn, 2006). Subsequently, in 2002 an amendment authorized the US Attorney General to conduct warrantless surveillance based on national security interests. The expansion of powers and degradation of Fourth Amendment protections for electronic surveillance were deliberate and put in place under the promise of thwarting terrorist attacks in the United States (Bloom and Dunn, 2006).
As the years went on, more Acts and laws have come into play, such as The Armed Forces Security Agency that is an intelligence-gathering scheme made in 1945, allowing the government to collect information without a warrant, leading to an even bigger Act called the National Security Agency.3 This act was signed into place by President Harry S. Truman in 1952 for the purpose of protecting the nation by monitoring, collecting, and processing any information and data for a foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, defeating terrorists and their organizations who pose a threat.4
The Patriot Act passed by the Congress after the 9/11 attack was one of the key methods planned by the government to track down terror and cyber-attack leads and prevent before the private and public is in any danger. Key points of the Act includes (a) enhancing domestic security against terrorism, (b) enhanced surveillance procedures, (c) protecting the border, (d) removing obstacles to investigating terrorism, ( e ) increased information sharing for critical infrastructure protection,
After the terrifying and dreadful events that happen on September 11, 2001 (9/11) the Patriot Act was created. President George W. Bush, the Senate and the House of representatives had worked together to create a way that would help America stay safe from terrorist attacks. They all agreed that having a new law that would allow them to look through American citizens information to see if they had done anything incriminating would be a good idea. Many would agree with them, but some also wondered if they are looking at more than just information for a terrorist case.