Patriot Act And Information Security

Improved Essays
Tools Within the Agencies. Information sharing is not the only tool that comes along with the Patriot Act. Agencies such as the Secret Service, Air Marshals, and Border Patrol exist to help prevent terrorism. Another agency where anti- terrorism acts have been exemplary is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There was an instance in an airport in Miami where the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a suspected foreign money launderer named Libardo Florez-Gomez. He laundered over one million dollars to Columbia every month for a terrorist group by the name of FARC. The agent who caught him was aware of the Patriot Acts and the new elements that came along with it in the act of preventing terrorism. For circumstances comparable …show more content…
On the contrary many cases have been examined as to why the Patriot Act is considered in more ways the one unconstitutional. After researching different cases, scenarios, and the fine print in the Patriot Act it is apparent there are some questions being raised as to whether or not people’s Fourth Amendment rights are being violated here. Historically, before the Patriot Act was put into place the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was made in order to correctly manage information gathering. The FISA Act was put into place after the Vietnam War in order to prevent corruption in the government, such as the Watergate Scandal and anti-communism investigations. After 9/11 and in the wake of the Patriot Act the FISA Act was expanded to include what is considered to be “Tangible Things.” According to George Pike in his article USA Patriot Act still raising questions he states “With the PATRIOT Act, FISA was modified to provide a number of new investigative tools and resources. This included an expanded definition of terrorist activity and a lower threshold for launching a terrorist-related investigation. In addition, the PATRIOT Act changed the definition of what kinds of records could be obtained or searched… The PATRIOT Act expanded the law to allow the production of "any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items). ...(Pike, 2015, p.1).” In regards to these “tangible things” the newest controversy has risen as to whether or not …show more content…
Recently the National Security Agency has been under fire since Edward Snowden released information about a secret program they have been conducting with major cell phone companies. Basically this program allowed the NSA to retain certain information from phone calls made across the country. When this information was released to the public many people began to worry about the information the government really had access to. They can obtain information including who is calling who, how long the call is, and what kind of device and service they are using to make the phone call. Controversy over this rose because it was understood that many people’s phone calls were being watched and put into a database and they had no idea that it was even happening. The Patriot Act actually was used to find this NSA secret program constitutional. Basically the act states that in order to have this information it needs to be relevant to an investigation. The court did decide however that it was not violating constitutional rights. The Patriot Act is being affected in many ways because of new information being released to the public about what information the government has access to. A particular section of the Patriot Act (section 215) can be renewed by congress and has been many times. The controversy lies to whether or not the information being taken by the public is relevant to an

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    What type of information does the patriot act allow the National Security Agency (NSA) collect all kinds,one of them is records of phone calls like who made them or received them or even how long they lasted they got all this with a secret court order instructing all phone companies to turn over all information they have. They also have information from your emails from big companies like Google,Facebook,Yahoo and others that were given to FBI and even simple local police who don 't even have security clearance to handle information like that. The NSA also has massive amounts of internet traffic like where you been on the…

    • 1025 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    After 9/11 occurred, the Bush Administration designed a law called the “Patriot Act.” The purpose of the Patriot Act is to surveil cellphones, tablets and anything that has a connection to the internet without you knowing. It is unconstitutional…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Department of Homeland Security and the US Patriot Act where created and passed as a direct result of the terrorist attacks orchestrated on September 11, 2001. As a package, both work to preserve life and liberty to citizens of the United States, whether in the homeland or abroad. Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security, while utilizing the US Patriot Act, has partnered with local law enforcement in order to be on the front lines of detecting and preventing homeland terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security, through the use of the US Patriot Act, has affected the local criminal justice process through the militarization of law enforcement and the deployment of cutting edge surveillance techniques and equipment.…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Josh Rozdolsky Saleh The Patriot Act United States History What would everyday life look like when the government can look through everyone's private information? The Patriot Act violates Civil Liberties and is Unconstitutional by restricting the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights of Americans. The Patriot Act violates freedom of religion and speech.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Patriot Act Dbq

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Following the attacks that occurred on 9/11, the United States government established the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was put into place to ensure the safety of the citizens of the United States by enhancing the security of the country. The act revised the nation’s surveillance laws, expanding the government’s authority to look into the records of citizens. This law also reduced the judicial oversight, public accountability and the ability to challenge government searches in court. These alterations and additions to the surveillance of the United States was said to ensure the safety of the people from ever having to experience any terrorist attack like the one that happened on 9/11.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There is a finite line between national security and the privacy of innocent Americans in their day to day lives. The right to have privacy was provided to people when it was installed in the 4th amendment to the constitution. Although the U.S. Government has been stretching out this basic right and invading the privacy right that every American has. The government should not be allowed to freely use surveillance programs to watch over innocent people 's every move. Stated in the 4th amendment there is the right for people “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fisa Pros And Cons

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The fact that National Security Agency was authorized to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and emails together with warrantless wiretapping and searches proves that the law was unconstitutional. The Act requires several other amendments to address technological advancements such as automated monitoring methods and foreign intelligence needs. This would be essential in implementation of proper programmatic approval processes. Another criticism arose in that, there was no proper framework to detect who the terrorists were despite the fact that FISA provided for monitoring mere communications of known…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Patriot Act Dbq Essay

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An act where the government can provide higher security for our country. An act that further protects Americans. The Patriot act strengthens and improves America by providing the appropriate tools to intercept terrorism in America. Providing America with the maximum security and doing everything to protect us from events such as 9/11 from happening again, is the governments goal with placing the Patriot Act.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this paper I will be talking about the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, also known as the USA PATRIOT ACT, how it protects the American people and allows law enforcement to protect us, as well as the event which led to the bill being passed and the impact and controversy it has on the American people. I both approve and disapprove of the PATRIOT ACT because although the bill was passed in order to protect us with good intentions. It has many gray areas which depending how the government interprets the bill can be seen in the eyes of the American people as invasive, though it has many good ideas and with reforms and debates about the bill it can actually allow for…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Patriot Act: Loop Holes

    • 98 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The Patriot Act has many loop holes and is open for interpretation for the government to use to its liking. The act states that anyone can be accused of terrorism by: Guilt by association, association as grounds for exclusion or deportation, the ban on supporting lawful activities of groups labeled terrorist, the use of secret evidence, and the empowerment of the Secretary of State to designate groups as terrorist organizations, without judicial or congressional review. The government has the power to decide who is a terrorist under their own terms and use the Patriot Act in their…

    • 98 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Its intent was to give the FBI and NSA access to more private information if that person was deemed a suspect in terrorism. But since the act was rushed through Congress, there were opportunities for…

    • 1623 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It gave the government surveillance powers in four areas (ACLU). Record searches, which expanded the government’s ability to look at records on an individual’s activity being held by third parties. Secret searches, which lets the government search property without notice of owner. Intelligent searches, which expands a narrow exception to the Fourth Amendment that had been created for the collection of foreign intelligence information and “Trap and trace” searches, which expands Fourth Amendment exception for spying that collect “addressing” information about the origin and destination of communications (ACLU). The Patriot Act has definitely changed things since September 9th, 2001 and many individuals have not agreed to it.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    NSC 68 Summary

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Patriot Act was made with the respectable goal of finding and arraigning global fear mongers working on American soil; in any case, the disastrous outcomes of the Act have been uncommon. A considerable lot of the Patriot Act's arrangements are in clear infringement of the U.S. Constitution—a report drafted by savvy men like Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington so as to secure American rights and opportunities. The Patriot Act infringes on sacrosanct First Amendment rights, which ensure free discourse and articulation, and Fourth Amendment rights, which secure residents against "baseless pursuit and seizure" (Justice). The Patriot Act approves untrustworthy and illegal observation of American residents with a unimportant change in national security. Free discourse, free reasoning, and a free American way of life can not make due in the atmosphere of doubt and steady dread made by the Patriot…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Importance Of The NSA

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The sole purpose of the NSA program was to safeguard our national security in a more expansive, efficient manner. The center on law and security (2007) states “…this requirement to demonstrate all of the substantive and procedural elements of FISA to the Attorney General's satisfaction before any surveillance can begin, would fatally impair the President's ability to carry out his constitutional responsibility to collect foreign intelligence to protect our Nation from attack” (p. 9). Any implementation involving citizen’s privacy is assured to draw controversy, and the root of the problem with this program was a management…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The government immensely overstepped its legal boundary to set up the Prism program in the year 2001. The citizens of the United States were not made aware about the program and the only time any public statement was made about it was by Edward Snowden an ex – CIA system analyst in 2013. So, it was 12 years after that we came to know about the program and the NSA was illegally collecting our personal data. Since the public was not made aware of it, there was an outrage when the citizens of America learned about the program. The Prism program is the violation of the rights of the citizens of the United States under the law.…

    • 1922 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays