Patriot Act Essay

One of the most controversial issues to come forth from the post 9/11 era is the Patriot Act. This is a law that was passed by congress to help the intelligence agencies and the executive branch succeed in their counter terrorism efforts. Also, "To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools and other reasons(Patriot Act)."

     The United States of America is a country that is based upon a principle of balancing the rights of an individual, while still preserving public order. The U.S. Constitution (specifically the Bill of Rights) guarantees every American certain Individual rights. Some of these rights include; freedom from unreasonable search and seizures, a right to due process of law, and protection against cruel and unusual punishment (The 4th, 5th and 8th Amendments). Historically the criminal justice system has preserved these rights of peopled accused of crimes. However on September 11, 2001, the United States became the victim of the largest terrorist attack the World has ever seen. According to Schmalleger in 2003, that

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.

Several weeks after the horrible terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act was rushed through Congress by Attorney General, John Ashcroft. This particular Act, however, was established with a ruling hand of fear. Life for Americans changed dramatically in those immediate days, weeks, and months after the attack. America had been spoiled with luxury for so long, that the illusion of control had ingrained itself into our very nature as Americans. That act of terror, on September 11, 2001, brought that belief crashing down, almost immediately. Fear and anger were rampant though out America; a dangerous

On September 11th, 2001 the future of the United States changed forever. With almost 3,000 people dying from a terrorist attack that spanned the Eastern U.S., new tactics had to be created to prevent an event like this from ever happening again. Forty-five days after the attack, the USA Patriot Act was passed (Source 5). While only some Americans approved of it, the act was created to protect from terrorism across the country.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 devastated the United States people. As they mourned over the deaths caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, Americans began looking for a way to prevent anything like this from happening again. Consequently, an act known as the USA PATRIOT act was passed by Congress. This act opened up many doors previously closed to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. With these new opportunities available to them, they have the capability to obtain information about specific individuals believed to be involved in terrorist activities and organizations. Very beneficial to the United States, the Patriot Act provides easier access for different government law enforcement agencies to share information, allows government agencies investigative tools that non-terrorist crimes already use, and helps to dismantle the terrorist financial network. Although many people claim that the Patriot Act violates the United States Constitution and the freedoms of the American people, it contains many elaborate safeguards to fight against such abuse.

If you violate a local law--we will hope that you will, and work to make sure that you are put in jail and be kept in custody as long as possible." According to Anne Kandra, whether a person is in favor or against the USA Patriot Act, it is important to know how this Act will affect our life online. The act allows investigators to use more powerful tools to monitor phone calls, e-mail messages, and web surfing. People now have less guarantee of privacy on the Internet. The federal investigators will now look through everyone's e-mail, text chat, or search inquiry. The surveillance will focus on people who authorities have a solid basis of suspicion. They will have to establish probable that a targeted person has been involved in a crime. The judges will then approve all reasonable requests related to criminal investigations. This Act also allows federal investigators to wiretap suspect's phones. Before, federal investigators had to have probable cause and had to specify specific lines to monitor. Now, they are able to wiretap without probable cause. They can monitor everything on a line whether the suspect is using it or not.

The people that don’t support the patriot act believe that it violates the first amendment rights, the right to protection against unlawful discrimination, the right to due process, and the right to privacy. The right to privacy is the freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your private affairs. The main reason that people don’t support the patriot act is because of the violation of the right to privacy from the government. (ACLU) They believe that the patriot act could lead to privacy violations of anyone who comes into any form of contact with a terror suspect. Also, people that don’t support the act believe that unrestricted sharing of information between intelligence agencies leads to the development of massive databases of citizens that are not suspects of terror. They also don’t like how the government can use sneak and peek search warrants for minor crimes and not just terrorism. (NPR) They are also worried that the material support part of the act could lead to guilt by association with terror suspects. They also don’t like the fact that

The Patriot Act was established after the tragedy of September, 11, 2001 in a moment of weakness. It gave unprecedented and unnecessary powers to intelligence agencies under the wide umbrella of national security. The Patriot Act has used an “us vs them” mentality as well as pro-American propaganda to accomplish its goals. This new authority of the intelligence agencies has gone too far, is unjustified, unconstitutional, and infringes on the privacy of the American people, as well as others in the world. The Patriot Act should be weakened in order to preserve the rights of the American people and to reaffirm to the world that the U.S will not tolerate violations of human rights.

The Patriot Act was created in the year of 2001, the same year that the tragic day, 9.11, occurred. On September 11th, 2001, 19 terrorists working for Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes, and caused this day to be forever remembered in the history of the United States. At 8:46 AM on September 11th, the first hijacked plane (American Airlines Flight 11) crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Specifically, it crashed into the 93-99th floors, trapping everyone on the floors above. Many people had doubts about this being a terrorist attack; they thought that it was just an accident. However, all of those doubts were removed when the second hijacked plane (United Airlines Flight 175) crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade

One of the most controversial policies to pass legislation within the United States congress with the approval of our president at the time, George W. Bush, was the USA PATRIOT Act. The USA PATRIOT Act is actually a acronym for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. This Act reduced the restrictions, which now allowed the law the power to search various electronic communications records as well as medical and financial records. It also enabled fewer restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering, broadened the immigration enforcement laws to allow them to more easily detain and deport immigrants suspected of involvement with

This Act may be cited as the "Uniting and Strengthening America Act" by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism. President Bush signed the Patriot Act on October 29, 2001. It passed and with no debate voted on; many members of congress did not fully read the act. Due to the anthrax scare many Congressman did not have access to their offices. Attorney General John Ashcroft silenced any debate by warning that anyone who contested the Act would be "akin to a traitor abetting the terrorist."(Podesta, 2001) Congress had rejected many of the provisions previously debated. It was a recycled compilation of many extreme "wish lists." In the post 9/11 wake of fear, it became a reality.

September 11, 2001 sparked many different feelings into the hearts of Americans. People sprang into action to seek revenge and protect America’s precious soils from another deadly attack by reinforcing America’s strength through her government. The men and women of Congress retaliated to the terrorist attacks by drafting and passing the USA PATRIOT Act on October 26, 2001, which stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” The bill was moved through Congress with amazing speed and little hesitation. After the passing, the unsuspecting citizens of America were bombarded with many new rules and regulations that

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.

After the devastating attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, this country scrambled to take action to provide future protection. New techniques had to be developed to protect the nation from the menace of terrorism. Along with the new techniques came the decision to enact laws that some believed crossed the threshold of violating civil liberties this county and those living in it were guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. “On October 26, 2001, the Public Law 107-56, Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, also known as the USA Patriot Act, was signed into effect” (Stern, 2004, p. 1112). While speaking to Congress,