Patriot Act Pros And Cons

Just forty-five days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, also known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. This act was created with the intention to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, and to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools (The United States Department of Treasury, n.d.). Due to this rapid implementation, many Americans believe that this Act was signed into law in hastily. That the White House pushed it through during a time of fear, knowing that Congress would approve it, even without reading it. Even today, many Americans are fearful of what they believe the Act …show more content…
It also allows for increased cooperation between these groups by removing barriers that had previously existed between intelligence, law enforcements, and national defense agencies. This increased the information flow unilaterally across the country making it easier for agencies to identify terrorist plots from their conception. According to a Department of Justice report from 2004, “This increased ability to share information has been invaluable to the conduct of terrorism investigations and has directly led to the disruption of terrorist plots and numerous arrests, prosecutions, and convictions in terrorism cases” (Department of Justice, 2004). The sharing of databases and consolidation of multiple databases to include the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The ability to collect DNA from terrorists made it possible to solve crimes by matching DNA profiles found at crime scenes. Previously federal law did not authorize the collection of DNA samples from federal prisoners who had been convicted of terrorism offenses, including hijacking an airplane or bombing a building (Department of Justice,