The Significance Of The USA Patriot Act And The Effect On American Society Today
The United States of America took a devastating blow on September 11, 2001, when the many parts of the country were under attack such as New York City and Washington D.C. The United States took immediate action to prevent further attacks and protecting their citizens by enacting the U.S. Patriot Act. Despite the attacks on American soil, the resilience demonstrated by the American people that day was remarkable. The U.S. Patriot Act has played a vital role in protecting citizens from terrorism but the techniques caused controversy among American Citizens. Violating the civil liberties of American citizens is not necessary to gather the proper information in …show more content…
and New York City, and cooperation with congress, President George W. Bush passed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, or Patriot Act for short (Pusey, 2015). Government agencies were now allowed to share both foreign and domestic intelligence on individuals, no matter their citizenship (Pusey, 2015). It further expanded limits on storage of electronic data storage such as voicemail and banking records. The U.S. Patriot Act provides a common defense among the citizens. The Patriot Act provides the government with the necessary tools to combat terrorism (Foster, 2006). Thus, allowing the government the ability to gather critical information such as forms of communication and uncover activities that would be impossible otherwise to prevent domestic terrorist activities (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The U.S. government has improved their ability to identify terrorist groups and dismantle their plans. The effects have been substantial, al-Qaeda and their affiliates have become severely degraded, resulting in their capabilities being significantly hindered (Fact Sheet, 2011). The American public and congress for sometime, argued the breadth of surveillance the government …show more content…
The Fourth Amendment provides an individual the privilege “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). Thus, the government must have probable cause to obtain a warrant before initiating any type of search or through investigation (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights restricts the government 's efforts to stop exercise of religion, freedom of speech assembly, and right to petition (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The enactment of the USA Patriot Act subsequently lowered the wall between foreign intelligence gathering and domestic criminal investigations.On June 2, 2015, the USA Freedom Act was passed overwhelmingly through the House of representatives, with support from the attorney general and intelligence community. The expanded authorities prompted concerns between national security interest and civil liberties (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The Freedom Act is distinctively different than what is found in the Patriot Act, such as further protecting Civil Liberties by ending bulk collection of data, preventing government Outreach, and Allowing changes of the National Security letter. (USA FREEDOM Act Summary, 2015) Secondly, improving transparency and information sharing by
The United States of America took a devastating blow on September 11, 2001, when the many parts of the country were under attack such as New York City and Washington D.C. The United States took immediate action to prevent further attacks and protecting their citizens by enacting the U.S. Patriot Act. Despite the attacks on American soil, the resilience demonstrated by the American people that day was remarkable. The U.S. Patriot Act has played a vital role in protecting citizens from terrorism but the techniques caused controversy among American Citizens. Violating the civil liberties of American citizens is not necessary to gather the proper information in …show more content…
and New York City, and cooperation with congress, President George W. Bush passed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, or Patriot Act for short (Pusey, 2015). Government agencies were now allowed to share both foreign and domestic intelligence on individuals, no matter their citizenship (Pusey, 2015). It further expanded limits on storage of electronic data storage such as voicemail and banking records. The U.S. Patriot Act provides a common defense among the citizens. The Patriot Act provides the government with the necessary tools to combat terrorism (Foster, 2006). Thus, allowing the government the ability to gather critical information such as forms of communication and uncover activities that would be impossible otherwise to prevent domestic terrorist activities (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The U.S. government has improved their ability to identify terrorist groups and dismantle their plans. The effects have been substantial, al-Qaeda and their affiliates have become severely degraded, resulting in their capabilities being significantly hindered (Fact Sheet, 2011). The American public and congress for sometime, argued the breadth of surveillance the government …show more content…
The Fourth Amendment provides an individual the privilege “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). Thus, the government must have probable cause to obtain a warrant before initiating any type of search or through investigation (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights restricts the government 's efforts to stop exercise of religion, freedom of speech assembly, and right to petition (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The enactment of the USA Patriot Act subsequently lowered the wall between foreign intelligence gathering and domestic criminal investigations.On June 2, 2015, the USA Freedom Act was passed overwhelmingly through the House of representatives, with support from the attorney general and intelligence community. The expanded authorities prompted concerns between national security interest and civil liberties (Domestic Surveillance Overview, 2015). The Freedom Act is distinctively different than what is found in the Patriot Act, such as further protecting Civil Liberties by ending bulk collection of data, preventing government Outreach, and Allowing changes of the National Security letter. (USA FREEDOM Act Summary, 2015) Secondly, improving transparency and information sharing by