The Heritage Foundation, at a republican debate, tried to assert that the Patriot Act had stopped 42 terrorist plots since the events of 9/11. In fact, only about a third of their claimed plots had an arrest. Multiple plots would have worked if not for a simple mechanical mistake made by an inexperienced terrorist, as in the case of the failed shoe bomber Richard Reid and the Christmas Day underwear bomber (Swann). Earlier this year, the Inspector General at the Department of Justice, Michael E. Horowitz, admitted that, “agents we interviewed did not identify any major case developments that resulted from use of the records obtained in response to Section 215 orders”
The Heritage Foundation, at a republican debate, tried to assert that the Patriot Act had stopped 42 terrorist plots since the events of 9/11. In fact, only about a third of their claimed plots had an arrest. Multiple plots would have worked if not for a simple mechanical mistake made by an inexperienced terrorist, as in the case of the failed shoe bomber Richard Reid and the Christmas Day underwear bomber (Swann). Earlier this year, the Inspector General at the Department of Justice, Michael E. Horowitz, admitted that, “agents we interviewed did not identify any major case developments that resulted from use of the records obtained in response to Section 215 orders”