The Bombing Of The Patriot Act

September 11, 2001 (herein referred to as 9/11) was a day in American history, which will be remembered as the most horrific attack on American soil. This attack, carried out by nineteen Islamic extremists, was associated with al-Qaeda, and involved the hijacking of four airplanes. Two of those airplanes were hijacked and flown directly into the World Trade Center in New York City, New York. The third plane’s target was the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth plane was brought down in Pennsylvania where it is believed the passengers aboard fought the hijackers. This horrific day in history cost over 3,000 people their lives, and was labeled the worst attack on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.

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.

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.

What defines the USA PATRIOT Act and how did it come to be? Also known as the Patriot Act, this acronym stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. On October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed this act into law. The sole purpose of this act is to give government agencies the tools

     The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers, and have been reviewed and approved by the courts.

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act) is one of the most controversial pieces of legislation to ever pass through the US Senate. Its critics use fear mongering tactics to scare people into opposition of an intrusive police state which they believe is inevitable given the government’s new powers. They consider the Act an assault on civil liberties and an invasion of the privacy of innocent American citizens. Yet the real issue is not that the government now has new powers, it’s that the American people do not trust our intelligence agencies to handle these new powers properly while still respecting their rights.

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

Ever since the cloudy day on September 11, 2001, when two planes crashed into the twin towers, the United States government has been cracking down on security. The Patriot Act, passed October 26, 2001, was an effort by the United States government to ‘crack down’ on terrorism. The act removed several legal barriers that blocked or restricted law enforcement, intelligence, and defense agencies from storing data about possible terrorist threats and collaborating together to respond to them. The Patriot Act was supposed to make United States citizens feel more secure but in reality it had the opposite effect. Around 2013, when confidential NSA documents were leaked it was found that several government agencies had used the guise of the Patriot Act to monitor millions of United States citizens. In fact, it was found out by several civil liberties groups that the Patriot Act applies to more than just terrorist acts. For example, Title II of the Patriot Act allows government agencies to tap telephone lines and permits the interception of messages that may be relevant to a criminal investigation. Further, the act allows authorities to provide access to any tangible thing(books, records, papers, etc). Today, March 2, 2016, fifteen years after the government was given permission to spy on most of its citizens, the government is trying to spy on all Apple iPhones through the use of a code cracking software.

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001teerrorist attacks, Congress and President Busch drafted, passed and enacted a number of laws that were focused on improving the nation’s security form terrorist attack and upgrading its ability to search for, identify, and eliminate terrorist threats at homes and international. Two of the most important and far reaching laws to come from the political and legislative action for the fall were the Uniting and Strengthening Americas by Providing Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001(USA Patriot Act) and the Homeland Security Act of 2002. While the USA Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act of 2002 have formed the backbone of terrorism laws in the United States, they are not without their problems, especially in terms of how far they infringe upon the right, freedom, and liberties of the public.

The Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001 by President George W. Bush. The act expanded the surveillance capability of both domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. When this law was passed it was under the assumption “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes” (The USA Patriot). The Patriot Act has given the government the power to spy on the average American through monitoring phone records and calls, gaining banking and credit information, and even track a person’s internet activity. This is an unbelievable amount of power intelligence agencies wield all under the umbrella of national security. This power has gone too far, is unjustified, unconstitutional, and infringes on the privacy of the

The USA Patriot Act was supposed to help the government find terrorists and prevent another attack, like the attacks on September 11th from happening again. However, there were many constitutional questions that surfaced with regard to the USA Patriot Act. The act gave the government more power than it had before September 11th. It allowed the government to put the rights of citizens aside, when the government thought that a person might be involved with terrorist activity. I will begin by discussing the contents of the USA Patriot Act and what questions might arise. I will then present some scenarios where the Patriot Act was used to justify the civil liberties of Americans being limited, and if the government’s suspicions were correct or

September 11, 2001 will forever be known as an infamous and tragic day Americans will unquestionably remember. On this day, three planes filled with innocent civilians, were hijacked and crashed into significant sites. The three places the hijacked planes collided with were the Twin Towers in New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. In addition, the terrorists orchestrating the whole attack scheduled a fourth plane to collide into another aimed target. Fortunately, though unlike the other hijacked planes, the mission was unsuccessful. The passengers on the plane fought against the terrorists and eventually surpassed their power, landing the plane in Pennsylvania. Though this may have been a slight victory and prevented worse outcomes, it did not outweigh the devastating results of the collisions. Inside the Twin Towers and the Pentagon,

September 11, 2001, millions of New Yorkers and American citizens woke up and started their day, unprepared and unaware for the catastrophic attack that would be taking place in just a few short hours. At 8:46 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. The impact killed all of the passengers and crew as well as hundreds inside the building. At 9:03 a.m., a second plane, Flight 175, crashed into the corner of the South Tower killing passenger, crew, and workers who worked on floors seventy-five to eighty-three. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. killing approximately 185 individuals (History.com Staff). Because of the damaged to the support system, fires, and impact at extremely fast speed, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. (Lipton and Glanz). Having heard about the acts of terrorism that had just taken place in New York and Washington, D.C., a group of passengers drove their plane, Flight 93, into a Pennsylvania field killing everyone on board but possibly saving hundreds of other lives in the process. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. 102 minutes after being struck (History.com Staff). On September 11, 2001, almost twelve hundred people were wounded or killed by “coordinated suicide attempts” by Al Qaeda terrorists. In result to the four airplanes being hijacked and used for premediated reasons, the United States government instituted new regulations for entering the country and airport security as well as expounded on systems already in place.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., the United States was attacked by members of the terrorists from Al-Qaeda. Nineteen hijackers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon, hijacked four American passenger jets bound for California. Both flight 11 of American Airlines and flight 175 of United Airlines would be flown into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. American Airlines flight 77 would be flown into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Finally, United Airlines flight 93 would be flown into a farmer’s field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, failing to reach

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists who were members of the Islamic terrorist organization named al-Qaeda, hijacked four commercial airplanes and committed suicide attacks against the United States. Two of the planes were ran into the towers of the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside of Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks resulted in mass death and destruction, triggering the United States initiatives to fight terrorism and defend our country. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., among these people were more than 400 police officers and 300 firefighters, these heros lost their lives