Have the laws and regulations passed as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, been helpful or hurtful to American society? It is now sixteen years since the September 11, 2001, terrorists attack on the World Trade Center by al-Qaeda. This was a defining moment in the history of the United States. As a result of the attack, there ensued intense political debates across the world. To strengthen the National Security of the United States, then-President George W. Bush introduced several legislations. Indeed, the 9/11 impacts are apparently visible in laws and regulations that the government of the U.S adopted in the wake of the disaster. Many people feel that these policies that the U.S. government has put forth have benefitted …show more content…
The American people have overwhelmingly embraced such provisions as the Bank Secrecy Act. This provision requires all financial institutions in the U.S. to assist government agencies in their efforts to spot and foil money laundering. The title II of the act contains three controversial regulations that have elicited a lot of debate. These provisions include the roving wiretaps, the “sneak and peak” and FBI’s ability to gain access to documents that show U.S. citizens’ patterns. These laws were extended by President Obama for four years in 2011 due to public outcry. Opponents of this act believe that its framers took advantage of the 9/11 attacks to come up with privacy infringement laws without subjecting it to public …show more content…
government is prohibited from invoking powers of war to rule over surveillance laws in future. However, these changes have been met with intense criticisms since some people feel that they have granted the telecoms a lot of immunity. This led to the creation of an immediate roadblock for several lawsuits that were aimed at exposing and upsetting the supposed power abuses as well as unlawful activities of the federal government since and even before the 9/11 attacks. These changes to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act permit the government to carry out surveillance to any person for up to 7 days without a warrant. This is contrary to the previous two days that is used to take. The only condition is to notify the FISA court of the time of commencement of such