The Patriot Act

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.

Public Law 107-56 otherwise known as the USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. USA PATRIOT Act is an acronym which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. (justice.gov) This law was instated in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The Islamic terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda, coordinated four different plane hijackings killing 2,996 people, and injuring 6,000+ others. (9/11 memorial.org) Just weeks after the attacks congress rushed to pass this bill, passing the senate 98 to 1, and the house 357 to 66 (justice.gov), so that we can have more security controls within the United States. It gives the United States government the same powers and tools used to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking in decades prior, to investigate current suspected terrorist. The Patriot act has several different titles that cover different grounds, all which have the same purpose of preventing future acts of terrorism. The patriot act allows the government to track and intercept any form of electronic communications of suspected terrorist in order to prevent any acts of terror, and also for intelligence gathering. The act also aids the government in securing borders, and removing those that are here with the intent to cause harm.

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.

One beautiful morning in September 2001 many people went about their day like they have before. Some off to work, or traveling for business, or to visit family, and in a blink of an eye our lives in America changed forever. We were attacked, on our own soil, not once, but four times. That fourth plane didn’t make it to its destination, thanks to the brave souls aboard that sacrificed their lives to save others. On that fateful day 2,753(NYmag) families would never be the same, as well as the rest of us that watch in disbelief. The attacks on September 11th 2001 led to something called the Patriot Act. In the days after 9/11 Congress hurried to pass a bill to give law-enforcement agencies the power to fight domestic terrorism. On October 26, President George W. Bush signed three hundred page USA Patriot Act into law (Crf.org). The USA Patriot Act of 2001 was created to prevent and catch terrorist in the United States and around the world. The contents of it has been one of great controversy in the rights of our privacy and the violation of our constitutional rights. Can we give up too much freedom to keep us safe? Where do we draw the line to keep our Country safe?

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 troubling consequence of the Patriot Act and the expansion of surveillance powers is the use of profiling. In order to efficiently gather intelligence information for the safety of this country, it would be common sense to develop a target of sorts to better focus the efforts made. Many believe that Muslims in this country have become the unfortunate targets of profiling. The monitoring of those with family and business ties to countries rooted with terrorism is a logical direction for

The PATRIOT Act abuses the privacy of American citizens. It has denied the nationals of this nation of a portion of the essential rights that were guaranteed to them in the Constitution. The rights that the PATRIOT Act puts into jeopardy are intrinsic and it is the responsibility to secure our inherent rights. The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of Congress that was marked into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. Its title is a ten-letter acronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. After the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon the United States has created relief controls

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

Since the attacks of 9/11, Muslim communities have been “targeted” by methods such as racial profiling, according to the Toronto Star (1). In America, the FBI have detained over 400 Muslim-Americans to bring them in for questioning. Although the claims of Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller say that these detainments have nothing to do with religion and ethnic background, many say this is, in fact, racial profiling. Some believe that it is appropriate, some believe it is not appropriate. How is it not appropriate? It is not appropriate because, one, it is a form of discrimination, if directed at one culture; two, not all people of Arabic descent agree with the beliefs of the common Islamic terrorist; and three, by

After the tragic events of 9/11, the government desperately needed to find a way to contradict terrorism. They approached this conflict by passing the Patriot Act in October 26, 2001, signed by President George W. Bush. This act widened the government’s authority to invade their citizens’ privacy, while reducing checks and balances like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court. Even though the Patriot Act was purposely ratified to benefit our country from dangerous terrorists, some people quarreled and disapproved of it. In my perspective, I would have also disagreed on the Patriot Act.

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

A. Thesis: The Patriot Act is violating American’s right to privacy. Mainly, the right to hold a private phone conversation.

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,

In April 2005, Americans were asked whether they thought the Patriot Act went too far or not. The result was surprising, 30% of the people asked thought that the Act gave the government too much power, while 41% believed that it did not. The poll also showed that the people who knew a lot about the Patriot Act mostly believed that it went too far, 45%, 37 % said about right and 17% did not

The USA Patriot Act is an anti-terrorism law enacted by the Congress in October 2001 at the request of then-President George W. Bush in response to the terrorist attacks that took place on Sept 11, 2001in New York and Washington,D.C. This was called the Patriot Act and was signed by Bush on Sept 26,2001. I went on the internet and googled Patriot Act for dummies. I watched this video from(CNN). It summed things nicely for me. I then decided to do my research differently. My sister in law Lisa is a Major in the Army and also a teacher at West Point Academy. She lives in New York, has high security clearance and is a Republican. I also decided to ask my other sister in law Debbie some questions as well. She is a psychologist in Santa Barbara, a Democrat and about the same age as Lisa 55 years old. I Thought it would be great to get different points of view. These are the questions I asked them via text: What is your take on the Patriot Act? Do you think we live in dictatorship? And how does this differ from oligarchy? This was the response from Lisa the Major. “I don't think we live in a dictatorship or an oligarchy. There are fair and free elections. The Patriot Act was an act of Congress, not a dictator. It may well have been an over reaction to 9/11, but at the time a lot of peottple were scared or angry. It had been repeatedly renewed by Congress under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The Patriot Act actually did expire in 2015. Some elements were put back