A common lie that plagues society is that the government is monitoring its people to protect them. This is a blatant lie only used to provide citizens with a false sense of security. The Foreign Intelligence Act, better known as the ‘FISA’ Act was passed through legislation simply to be utilized as another active device to gain intelligence on those who are supposed to be free. Due to a new spur of terrorism in the world the United States believed there were changes to be made. The FISA Act was later ratified to include the Patriot Act which is a direct threat to the nation’s freedom if used for anything other than its intended purpose. Before the Patriot Act was put in place our primary weapon against terrorism was the Foreign Intelligence
The Us Patriot Act is an act that was made in 2001 after the terriost attack on September Eleventh. The act is made of several laws that allow law enforcement to do certain procedures against terrorism that they were only allowed to do against organized crime. The police received new tools to better protect from terrorism, and can wire tape. In addition, different law enforcement can share information between departments called “connect the dots”. Finale, add new laws to obtain information of things bought that could be consider a part of the crime and new jail sentences. The Us Patriot Act is a bill that was pushed to better protect the citizens of the United States and is still expanding today.
The United States of America faces a changed world altogether. World war 2 had changed Germany and Japan quite a bit, France and Great Britain even had great losses.
Since the September 11 attacks terrorism attacks the world has been in a constant war with terrorism. Right after these attacks, the Congress rushed to pass rules to strengthen security in the United States while also limiting our freedoms as a US citizen. On October 23, 2001, the Patriot Act was proposed. This act allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred, it Prohibits the harboring of terrorists, and it punishes terrorist acts in the United States and around the world. On October 25, 2001, the Act was passed by the Senate by 98 to 1. The one vote that was in opposition to the act was Senator Russell Feingold. He and other opponents of the law have criticized its detentions of immigrants, and how the law allows enforcement officers to search a home or business without the owner's consent or knowledge. Although he was outnumbered 98 to 1 he still made an extensive impact on the outcome of the Patriot
After the attacks on September 11th of 2001, George W. Bush and his administration, along with Congress, agreed that national security needed more power within the executive branch. Our government leaders then rushed the legislative and review process and got the USA Patriot Act signed to law on October 26th of 2001 by President George W. Bush. The USA Patriot Act is an acronym that stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. It was passed to prevent future threats and acts of terrorism in the United States and to strengthen our national defense against terrorism. Since this act came into effect, lawmakers and citizens have heavily criticized it. The USA Patriot Act has been said to contradict civil liberties and be a violation of Constitutional rights, but its most controversial sections have continued to be extended
One common idea many Americans have is that the USA Patriot Act keeps them safe. Even Robert Mueller, the former director of the FBI, believed having such an act in place prior to 9/11 could have prevented the attacks (CBS News). He further explained that having the act in place at the time could have tracked the phone of one of the terrorists that carried out the attacks. He implies here that the information from the act is
Today, electronic surveillance remains one of the most effective tools the United States has to protect against foreign powers and groups seeking to inflict harm on the nation, but it does not go without a few possessing a few negative aspects either. Electronic surveillance of foreign intelligence has likely saved the lives of many innocent people through prevention of potential acts of aggression towards the United States. There are many pros to the actions authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) pertaining to electronic surveillance, but there are also cons. Looking at both the pros and cons of electronic surveillance is important in understanding the overall effectiveness of FISA. [1]
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Islamic extremists carried out the deadliest terrorist attack ever to happen on U.S. soil. Not only did almost 3,000 U.S. citizens die, but fundamental American values were put to the test. In response to this tragedy, the country came together, and President George Bush, also shocked and embittered by this calamity, funneled the resulting patriotism to launch his “War on Terror”. The primary weapon of this war was the 2001 U.S.A Patriot Act (“Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”). A usually precarious balance the government faced between national security and individual rights was tipped entirely towards national security in the wake of 9/11 and the 2001 Patriot Act was signed into law almost unopposed.
The primary initiatives of the Patriot act is to prevent terrorism by effectively utilizing already available tools; improving the information sharing process; utilizing technology to identify terrorists; and by increasing the penalties to those who commit terrorist attacks, terrorist related crimes as well as those who conspire and help terrorists (Department of Justice, n.d.). Prior to the Patriot Act, many of the tools that already existed, that could also be useful to prevent a terrorist attack but were not being used to their full potential, and that have been used for many years by law enforcement officers and federal agents to combat other crimes such as drug trafficking or murder crimes, were too difficult to utilize to combat terrorism
The USA Patriot Act grants government agencies powers in terrorism investigations that it already uses in non-terrorist crimes. Several law abiding citizens have been approached, questioned, and interrogated without probable cause of any criminal activity, basically for engaging in political speech protected by the constitution (Bailie, 2012). The Act freely eliminates privacy rights for individual Americans, it creates more secrecy for government activities, which make it extremely difficult to know about actions the Government are taking.
Together with money laundering and counterfeiting foreign currency, border control has the authority to take part in these acts. The Department of State requires a final form regulation that administers the procedure for taking fingerprints, with which the Department of State is allowed to use this information. Not long after the Department of State requested this action, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) arranged the development of technology standards to verify the identity of a person applying for a United States visa. The logic was to make the standard technology basis for a cross-agency, cross-platform electronic system used for directing background checks, confirming identities and safeguarding that people have
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was originally enacted to protect entities from abuse of surveillance for national security reasons. FISA contains policies associated with the process of gathering foreign intelligence by the intelligence community for national security reasons (Addicott & McCaul, 2008, p. 46-47). FISA also consisted of a secret court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which had eleven unnamed federal judges who issued warrants regarding surveillance or searches for the intelligence community, and a court review board, which consisted of three federal judges who reviewed the actions of the secret court. After the passing of the Patriot Act by the Bush Administration, the NSA was essentially given full authority to collect information on citizens without a warrant, thereby circumventing the FISC, and Bush fully defended the NSA, stating “‘The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time.’” (Schwartz 2009
Sixty percent of all Americans wish to see the Patriot act be reformed. The Patriot Act gives the power to the FBI and Homeland Security to spy on many Americans and collect personal information. It invades privacy, violates civil liberties and the Fourth Amendment, and does not contribute to the fight against terrorism; it takes away freedom of speech and any form of privacy from Americans. In addition to invading the personal lives of many Americans, the patriot act has also been proven to have no effect on stopping potential terrorist attacks in the United States. The Patriot act is a violation of civil rights and an invasion of privacy and needs to be repealed.
The United States Patriot Act was a series of bills that were passed into law and enacted into the Patriot Act in 2001 by George W. Bush. This Act was designed to protect Americans in the wake of the 9/11 bombings and the 2001 Anthrax attacks. According to George W. Bush this Act was designed to protect United States citizens and prevent another terroristic attack similar to 9/11.
Van Bergen (2002) website states “Many people do not know the US Patriot Act was already written and ready to go long before the September 11th” (p. 1). Critics of the Bush Administration claim the government had information that could have helped prevent the attacks of September 11th. Sharing information and investigations between the agencies, FBI and CIA, was allowed to break the obstacles that once separated investigations that involving criminal and intelligence ones. Information obtained by the United States Justice Department showed the CIA had previous
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