The Patriot Act Essay

The USA PATRIOT Act stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism." This act was enacted 45 days after more than 3,000 American lives were lost at the state of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The intended purpose of the act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes. There are four primary initiatives of the act in improving our nation’s counterterrorism efforts: It allows investigators to use the tools available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking; facilitates information sharing and cooperation between government agencies so they can detect patterns of terrorist activities; update the law compatible to new technologies and new threats; and raise penalties
In addition, the act is a threat to civil liberties because it destroys portions of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Those amendment rights include freedom of speech and assembly; unreasonable search and seizure; right to due process of law; speedy trial; and excessive cruel and unusual punishments. Furthermore, the act gives government authorities to tap into any phones of citizens or monitor everyday uses of the internet. The scariest part is that any Americans can be labeled as domestic terrorists if they engage in even normal criminal acts. On the other hand, the USA FREEDOM Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection and Online Monitoring Act) was passed to impose limits on bulk collection of telecommunication data on citizens by intelligence agencies. The act extended the Patriot Act provision that involves roving wiretaps and lone wolf