How Effective is the USA Patriot Act?

PATRIOT ACT : DEFENSE OR DESTRUCTION

2007 "Today , we take an essential step in defeating terrorism while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans " - President George Bush (Olsen , 2001

Many aspects of the bill increase the opportunity for law enforcement and the intelligence community to return to an era where they monitored and sometimes harassed individuals who were merely exercising their First Amendment rights . Nothing that occurred on September 11 mandates that we return to such an era ' - John Podesta , White House Chief of Staff (1998-2001 (The USA Patriot Act

, 2006

Above is just a small representative of the spirited debate surrounding the

American government 's controversial PATRIOT Act . In the wake of September 11 , debates

about the security of America flamed anew . Many individuals argued that certain sacrifices were

necessary in to make the United States a safer place to live Others contended that no

amount of security was worth sacrificing the basic principles on which America was founded

freedom and equality for all . Amidst the challenges , a sweeping bill was drafted which would

significantly amend 15 existing laws and which would implement several controversial measures (Summary of USA Patriot Act , 2002 . Attorney General John Ashcroft despite warnings

from opposing members of Congress , urged Congress to hastily pass the controversial bill . If not

he warned , blame for imminent ' terrorist attacks would fall at the feet of Congress . On October

26 , 2001 , the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to

Intercept and Instruct Terrorism Act of 2001 - aka the USA PATRIOT Act - was signed into

law by President George W . Bush (The USA Patriot Act , 2006 . Only 66 members of Congress

voted against the bill , many worried that the act violated some basic civil rights (Olsen , 2001

Has the PATRIOT Act fulfilled its promises , or validated its critics

Criminal and intelligence agencies hail the measures implemented by the act as

breakthroughs in the fight against crime and terrorism . First , they say technology demands

that surveillance laws be updated to include electronic equipment . If terrorists now routinely use

cell phones and e-mails to carry out their activities , then the intelligence agencies ' hands are

affectively tied if they have no authority to conduct wire taps and such on electronic equipment (Eggen , 2003 . Patriot Act-approved technologies such as the roving wiretap and the

CARNIVORE system (monitoring Internet activity ) allow sophisticated surveillance of these

advanced technologies (Hulme , 2001

Second , the Patriot Act imposes stiffer penalties for terrorist activities , and expands the

list of crimes considered terrorist . For example , previous laws did not consider activities such as

providing oral instructions on how to carry out an attack or providing financial backing to

terrorists to be criminal offenses . As a result of the PATRIOT Act agencies have much less red

tape to wade through (saving valuable time ) in to establish probable cause (USA

PATRIOT Act , 2006 . Law enforcement now also has more authority to prosecute hackers -

cyber terrorists who could very well represent the future of terrorism For the first...