The USA Patriot Act Controversy

One of the most tragic terrorist attacks to take place in the United States occurred on September 11, 2001. Days after these attacks, the standing president at the time, George Bush, declared that he was on a new mission to fight back against terrorism (“The War,” 2018). Since then, various laws and regulations have been put in place to help provide a feeling of security to American Society. Moreover, to aid in the relief efforts that follow events that are considered emergencies, such as terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Consequently, of these various enactments, the following has been found to be hurtful to American society: Homeland Security, the USA Patriot Act, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This is due to the controversy …show more content…
The main issue is that, this creates a situation where any individual within America can be suspected of, and investigated for assumed terroristic actions. Some of its most prominent criticisms include the ability of agencies to share confidential information in relation to criminal cases with other agencies and the ability of local law enforcement to invade the privacy of greatly involved protestors (O'Meara, K., 2005). Also, the lack of regard toward privacy does not sit well with many Americans. Going against the Fourth Amendment, law enforcers can simply announce their suspicion towards an individual or corporation and it can stand as grounds for a justified secretive invasion of privacy. The Fourth Amendment is supposed to prevent American citizens from undergoing relatively baseless searches and having items in their possession or their property, forcibly taken away. Because of the sensitive nature of terrorist attacks, all suspicions must be addressed. The USA Patriot can bypass the Fourth Amendment as a law enforcer can voice their suspicions on an individual or corporation based on assumptions (Evans, J., 2002). According to O’Meara, a research director by the name of Dave Kopel, mentioned that The USA Patriot Act even allows individuals to be put in powerless positions despite their nonexistent involvement in terroristic activities. In this position, these …show more content…
After the introduction of the Patriot Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was affected by allowing surveillance criteria standards to be lowered. Both the Patriot Act itself and its changes made to FISA have both shown a lack of regard for the Fourth Amendment (Jaeger, Bertot, & McClure, 2003). Furthermore, one of its criticisms is that it is not completely liable to be held to the guidelines of the Fourth Amendment. This is referencing the procedure that is meant to be followed before the approval of invading privacy is given. FISA allows for search and wiretapping approval to be obtained without evidence that suggests criminal involvement (Jaeger, Bertot, & McClure, 2003). Instead, the requirement is to express why such an investigation is necessary and how foreign intelligence information is planned on being obtained. There was an instance in the early 2000’s under President Bush’s administration when the National Security Agency was exposed for conducting warrantless wiretaps (Wyden, R., 2016). This was a major shock to the country. Many had been unaware of the possibility that their phone conversations could have also secretly had a third party on the line. Unfortunately, the American citizens were even more surprised to find out that the FISA Court had approved this (Wyden, R., 2016). The FISA Court is a committee that is surrounded by secrecy and decides which foreign