The Patriot Act is a U.S. law passed in the wake of the September 11 , 2001 terrorist attacks . Its goals are to tone up domestic security and broaden the powers of law - enforcement agencies with regards to identify and block terrorists . The expiration and renewal of the Patriot Act has been passing controversial . Supporters exact that it ’s been instrumental in a number of investigations and check of terrorist , while critic counter the act chip in the government too much magnate , threatens civil familiarity and weaken the very commonwealth it seeks to protect . Let ’s take a look at what the Patriot Act is , the support and criticism behind it and if the Patriot Act is really work .

Main Provisions of the Patriot Act

The Patriot Act ’s full title is Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 . It ’s separate into 10 part , and it covers a lot of ground . Here is a sum-up .

Title I- This subdivision pertains to the protection of civil liberty . It authorizes Union money to achieve much of the routine ’s preparation and pass the Secret Service to make a nationwide electronic crime undertaking force . This section also chip in thepresidentthe assurance to seize the property of any extraneous person who is believed to have assist in a war or attack on the United States . Such seizures can be reconcile secretly to courts as grounds .

deed of conveyance II- This section broadens the ability of jurisprudence - enforcement agencies to conductsurveillanceon " federal agent of foreign powers . " It leave the interception of communications if they ’re related to terrorist activity and allow constabulary - enforcement agencies to partake information related to terrorist natural action with Union authority . In accession , Title II authorize roving surveillance – that is , a court gild leave surveillance on a particular person earmark officers to use any means uncommitted to bug that individual ’s communication theory , regardless of where the somebody travel . Previously , a court order would only allow awiretapon a specific line in one fix . Further , it allows the government to order files from the supplier of communication theory service with item about specific customers ' economic consumption of the servicing . For example , anInternetservice provider can be ordered to render info on IP addresses , login prison term and sites visited . Title II also allows delayed apprisal of search warrants , signify a defendant ’s house could be search while the suspect is n’t present , and the defendant would not be notified of the lookup until after it was carried out . The astray - range Title II let in many other relatively underage clauses . Title II also contain the sundown clause that would have stimulate many of the act ’s provisions to expire in 2005 had they not been renewed . We ’ll discuss more on the sundown article later .

Titles III-X of the Patriot Act

Title III- This segment of the Patriot Act is aimed at cutting off the financial support of terrorist group . It has provisions requiringbanksto take whole tone to preventmoney laundering , allows practice of law - enforcement agencies to assemble entropy from bank and make longerprisonterms for money laundering and smuggling .

Title IV- This discussion section has provisions intended to strengthen border surety . It authorizes increased funding forborderpatrols , customsofficials andimmigrationofficials . outlander with ties to terrorist organizations are banned from entering the United States , and the monitoring of strange student is expanded by Title IV .

claim V- The most of import part of Title V is the use of National Security Letters ( NSL ) . An NSL is a requirement for the release of information and paperwork related to a soul under investigating . The Patriot Act makes NSLs much strong , allows them to be used against U.S. citizens and contains a gag order preventing the object of the NSL from ever knowing about it or telling anyone else about it . There is no juridic brushup or want for probable cause when an NSL is requested and issue .

statute title VI- This section contains supply for providing fiscal compensation to victims of act of terrorism and their families .

Title VIII- This portion of the Patriot Act adds several crime to the listing of things considered acts of act of terrorism , including attack a mass transit system , using abiological weapon , supporting terrorist act and calculator hacking . The penalty for terrorist crime are also increase .

Title IX- This section create a method for the sharing of national intelligence activity entropy betweengovernmentagencies .

claim X- The last section of the Patriot Act moderate a number of comparatively minor , miscellaneous provisions .

Primary Criticisms of the Act

The Patriot Act has amount under fire for a phone number of reason . It was lapse very chop-chop ( just over a month after the September 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks ) , and Congress expend very trivial time reading and debating it . By some score , less than 48 hr passed between the presentment of the bill ’s final wording and the law passing in both houses of Congress , extend to some dubiousness whether many fellow member of Congress actually interpret the lengthy and complex banker’s bill . However , Sen. Russ Feingold , a Democrat from Wisconsin , was the only senator to vote against the human activity , while several members of the House of Representatives joined his objection or abstained from voting . Critics contend that such a crucial and sweeping piece of legislation deserve more thorough unhurriedness .

There are fears that the Patriot Act reduces or removes many of the civic liberty enjoy in the United States and guaranteed by the Constitution . The right to privacy ( not specifically mentioned in the Constitution but supported by numerousSupreme Courtdecisions ) and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures are the most renowned infringements due to the expansion of the government ’s ability to conductwiretaps , obtain NSLs and do searches without notification . The hold of material witnesses and terrorist suspect without access tolawyers , hearings or any formal charge are assure as erosions of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments , rights of due process and trial by jury , severally .

critic also charge that the Patriot Act below the belt elaborate the powers of the executive subdivision and strips aside many crucial checks and balances . The lack ofjudicialreview , or secretive reviews open to strict laugh parliamentary procedure are the key elements of this criticism . There are also fears that the police force will be unsuitably used against non - terrorist criminals . In fact , it ’s been used to off dispossessed the great unwashed from gearing station , to pursue drug rings and to collect financial datum on random visitors toLas Vegas[Soure : Firstamendmentcenter.org , New York TimesandBusiness Week ] .

The results of an internal FBI audit were released in 2007 , revealing that the office had misused National Security Letters in more than 1,000 instances since 2002 . It ’s likely that this number act only a fraction of actual number of NSL abuse [ germ : The Washington Post ] .

A Brief History of the Patriot Act

The terrorist blast on theWorld Trade Centerand the Pentagon onSeptember 11 , 2001 , spur a countrywide desire for tight security and increase abilities for jurisprudence - enforcement government agency to chase after and stop terrorist . The Patriot Act was muster in in response and introduced to Congress by Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner . Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh was the elementary author of the act , following his followup of Department of Justice practices and subroutine in the Wake Island of the September 11 attacks [ Source : Wired.com ] .

Separate rendering of the law decease before the Senate and the House of Representatives . The Senate version was passed on October 11 , 2001 , but the House interlingual rendition was altered several times , then redrafted and reconciled with the Senate version before being okay by the House . The Senate approve this revise fused interlingual rendition and the full account was sign into jurisprudence by President Bush on October 26 , 2001 .

The original act has a sundown clause which would have get many of the law of nature ’s provisions to pass away in 2005 . By then , opposite to the routine had grow and Democrats used a filibuster to delay reauthorization . The sundown clause was extended for several months , but increased Democratic top executive in Congress forced a compromise , and the act was reauthorized in early 2006 with a series of “ civil liberties safeguards ” in place [ rootage : CNN ] . Most of the enactment ’s provision were made permanent , but many were changed and three of them were not made permanent . Libraries will no longer be subject to National Security Letters ( unless that library also serves as an Internet Service Provider ) . Provisions allowing rovingwiretapsandFBIseizure of business record are coiffe to expire in four years [ Source : The Washington Post ] .

The gag order on NSLs and other subpoena ad testificandum was extended to one year , but the receiver is allow to challenge the order after that metre has passed . objective of NSLs are allowed to keep the identity of their attorney fromgovernmentofficials . Other changes set the length of time the FBI can hold records and storm government official to provide more thorough account of their understanding for requesting search warrants , surveillance or subpoenas [ generator : NPR ] .

A bill known internally as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act , but often referred to as Patriot Act II , was drafted by the Department of Justice but never submitted to Congress . A leak written matter of the conscription showed that this account featured coarse restriction on civil autonomy and immensely expanded administration power .

Is the Patriot Act a Success or a Failure?

The Patriot Act puzzle out on the possibility that in the face of terrorist threats , Americans must balance freedom with protection . The balancing act only works if the amount guide to increase security actually fulfill that goal . By one very significant measure , it could be argued that the Patriot Act has work – there has not been a successful terrorist onset on U.S. district since the act was sign into practice of law ( theAnthraxscare that come after in the calendar month afterSeptember 11was never determined to be a terrorist onslaught ) . Of course , that could also be attribute to increasedairportsecurity , heighten consciousness on the part of all Americans or the diversion of terrorist resources to conflict in the Middle East .

The Department of Justice lists many oecumenical room in which the turn has assist the country contend terrorist act , and one conservative psychoanalyst claim that 15 terrorist plots have been disrupted by agents using power granted by the human action [ Source : Lifeandliberty.gov ] . The Department of Justice written document specifically cites the use of rovingwiretaps , expandedsurveillanceauthorization , stay - apprisal search and interagency data sharing as essential to the anti - terrorist mission .

Opposing the Patriot Act

In some showcase , critics of the Patriot Act have take their confrontation to homage or write it into law . An unidentified complainant sue Attorney General John Ashcroft with the supporter of theAmerican Civil Liberties Unionover a National Security Letter . A federal judge ruled that the recipient role of an NSL has the right to repugn it ; the ruling automatically applied to all NSLs , deeming them an unconstitutional confinement on free actor’s line [ Source : ACLU ] . In a separate cause , a judge ruled that a clause of the Patriot Act making it a offence to provide aid to a terrorist group in the form of expert advice was unconstitutional . The jurist believed the law was needlessly restrictive of oral communication and lawlessly faint by not defining what would constitute expert advice [ Source : ACLU ] . By 2004 , almost 300 municipalities across the United States had passed local legislation formally differ with the Patriot Act or urging Congress to modify or repeal it . One town , Arcata , Calif. , passed a jurisprudence build it a condemnable offense to comply with those sections of the Patriot Act the town view unconstitutional [ Source : The Boston GlobeandThe Washington Post ] .

For more information on the Patriot Act and related topics , check out the links on the follow page .

Lots More Information

Sources