The United States of America’s Patriot Act is a law or bill in place that is meant for our government to spy on terrorists. This Act is a very nice tool that the FBI, CIA, Army, and many other branches can use to track people. It came into effect after the September 11, 2001 attack on the twin towers. The USA Patriot Act includes information sharing, roving wiretaps, access to records, foreign intelligence, wiretaps and searches, “Sneak and Peek” warrants, and material support. Although there is plenty of people that do not support the Act it is very beneficial and goes through a couple of reforms every once and awhile.
In a world of continuous technological advancements, as a substantial advantage, the USA PATRIOT Act modernizes the law to recognize present-day threats and attacks. Based on reports by the Justice Department, prior to the introduction of the USA PATRIOT Act, some laws within the United States failed to account for modern-day technological advancements (Department of Justice, 2017). As an example, under the USA PATRIOT Act, government or law enforcement agencies are permitted to utilize advanced technological means to locate or identify individuals, if necessary. Furthermore, with technological advancements allowing for long-distance planning and attacks, contributors to the Congressional Digest report that the USA PATRIOT Act allows some officials
This act increased the federal powers imposed on the citizens in order to help their efforts towards investigating terrorists. These powers included telephone taps, internet taps, voice mail, grand jury information, immigration, money laundering, and crime. While these powers made it easier for the government to track down possible suspects of terrorism, it interfered with the people’s right to privacy. All the provisions under the Patriot Act can be used on the citizens with the approval of a court order. Furthermore, it interfered with the Fourth Amendment.
In the Patriot Act some people might find parts of it hard to understand it more so some people might agree to the terms and some people might disagree. When they
The moment that the Twin Towers fell in New York, America became destined for change. In the wake of these attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was quickly passed through congress, and signed by then-president, George W. Bush. The act itself gives the FBI and other government agencies the ability to do and use certain methods, many of which are already used by other law enforcement organizations, to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Since then, this piece of legislation has been the center of much debate and controversy. But, there is ample reason to believe that the Patriot Act is needed and effective.
Seventeen years ago, the United States and her people weren’t officially in any war or conflicts. Very few citizens had even heard of Al-Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden, and ISIL was not even a blip on her radar. America’s involvement in middle eastern affairs and the War on Terror – a reaction to the 9/11 terror attacks – created a drastic change in our nation’s political and social landscape. The aftermath of the attacks forced America to reevaluate their ideas regarding, safety and privacy. After the attacks of September 11th, the laws and regulations that have since passed have drastically improved national security, although the reduction in privacy, effects on foreign relations, and the lasting consequences of the War on Terror have had negative
Critics of the PATRIOT Act claim that with too much power, comes corruption. The PATRIOT Act gave new powers to the United States Intelligence community in which is made up of 17 agencies. Some of the most notable are the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. The Patriot Act enabled international and domestic surveillance of electronic communications; it also removed legal barriers that had blocked law enforcement, intelligence, and defense agencies from sharing information about potential terrorist threats and coordinating efforts to respond to them. Many critics of the PATRIOT Act raised concerns surrounding
The USA Patriot Act allowed the government to watch people through the internet, their phone conversations, and via satellites. The reason for this act was to make sure the government had a form of surveillance so there wouldn’t be another terrorist attack. President Bush was very excited to have this act passed because he thought that it would help intelligence operations and anti-criminal operations the chance to trade information to catch any possible terrorists. Nick Anderson, a cartoonist for Washington Post, believed that the government was throwing out the Constitutional ways to make this act a new law. Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney from the southern district of New York, believed that this act was a good one to have but thought that if the right to privacy was taken away it would never be given back.
At point in the United States, everyone had their day in court. They were innocent until proven guilty and their rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the United States Constitution were honored. Then it all changed. On the morning of September 11, 2001, The United States was attacked in New York and Washington D.C. where over 3,000 innocent Americans died at the hands of terrorists who preached a message of death to the west. It was then that the United States collectively agreed to send troops into the Middle East and engage in what would be known as the longest have been more numerous throughout the world.
I am in favor of the patriot ACT. I know many people think, it is kind of violation of the privacy, but the patriot ACT make the U.S. a better place to live. There are countries, which try to do some damage to the U.S., and they will do anything to accomplish it. The patriot ACT made it easier for the law enforcement whenever they needed to arrest someone, whether is a drug dealer, a terror organization or someone who tries to make some damages through technology. These acts can have huge impact on the people and the society, law enforcement should act faster than the enemies in order to get them before they get what they want.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows U.S. intelligence agencies to acquire foreign intelligence information by monitoring foreign persons in the USA and abroad. This act ensures that intelligence agencies can respond in time to terminate a security threat. The most important part of this act, the Section 702 forbids deliberate monitoring of US citizens and their communication. Technically NSA has been violating this act ever since it has been enacted in 2008 because, as we know, they have been monitoring all US citizenry.
"The Government began to become concerned with the United State’s national security after the events that transpired on September 11, 2001. The NSA began to monitor various forms of communication throughout the United States. Recently, after Edward Snowden released classified information about the NSA surveillance programs, the idea of monitoring internet content has become upsetting and worrisome to many. From monitoring phone calls to facebook posts, the government practically has access to it all. So what platforms should be deemed necessary for public safety and where should the line be drawn?
On the other hand, opponents of the Patriot Act claim it violates our rights to privacy. Likewise, arguments over the patriot act are multifaceted and complex and both sides have valid points. Contenders of this act are justified in that they fear “big brother”, they fear this is a slippery slope which could move us closer to other countries where the government exerts total power over its citizens. What the opponents do not take into account is that we have more to fear from these countries that wish to kill us than we do from our own government and sometimes change is necessary to keep the threat of other countries at minimum.
Even though this Act was passed in hopes of making America safer, it should be outlawed. The U.S. Patriot Act should not be supported because it affects all American citizens, it has not done much to protect citizens, and it does not stop terrorist attacks. The Patriot Act affects all citizen with any type of technology. Even though, it was passed in order to find terrorists, and stop them before they did anything.
The government is invading our privacy for the reason of preventing terrorist attacks, yet studies have shown that not a single terrorist attack was prevented thorugh this Patriot Act. For instance, "There were 143,074 national security letters were issued and 0 of them were for terrorism" (Source 5). Clearly based on the evidence collected over a span of 2 years, there is no impact being made by the Patriot Act. This Patriot Act provides little to no evidence as to why it should still be in effect, so this act should be revoked
