Tragedy Case

Nothing can undo the tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001. An act of terrorism of that magnitude had never been seen before in our country, and hopefully will never be seen again. On October 26, 2001, a mere forty-five days after the attacks on New York and Washington, Congress responded to the unprecedented horrific event by passing the Uniting and Strengthening of America through Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, more commonly known as the PATRIOT Act (Lindauer). The act granted special new powers to U.S law enforcement agencies in order to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Even though the motives of this act were virtuous, these new roles promoted controversial procedures to take place that were based purely on suspicion or were without evidence of wrongdoing. Some of these procedures include encroachment upon the privacy of the citizens of the U.S and foreign visitors without public knowledge or justifiable cause, and even arrests and trials of citizens without warrants. 11 years later this act is still in effect, emphasizing the idea that the government has accepted this hastily passed Patriot Act into a more permanent set of laws. America should not have to compromise their personal privacy for the benefit of perceived safety, and it is clearly time for some sort of reasonable amendment to be made. By removing provisions of the Patriot Act that courts have deemed are in violation of the Fourth Amendment, like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Mayfield), the United States government can ensure the safety of its citizens but also respectfully limit the powers of law enforcement agencies.

On May 27th, 2011, Barack Obama approved a four-year extension to the powers attributed to the Patriot Act. Because some of the provisions within the act have evoked concerns that they could be used to violate privacy rights, the terms of the Patriot Act have to be periodically renewed and are not permanent law. This was a point strongly supported by the Senate, and then the House when arguing in favor of the Patriot Act, because it so clearly establishes a method for controlling the various aspects of the controversial Patriot Act. Also, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid argued that if Obama had not approved the extension then, "When the clock strikes midnight... we would be giving terrorists the opportunity to plot attacks against our country, undetected, and that by blocking passage of the bill, we are threatening to take away the best tools we have for stopping them" (Warren). That, the idea that the Patriot Act is our one tool against the ongoing fear of terrorism, is the main reason why this controversial act is still in effect today.

The only public proponents of the USA PATRIOT Act are a few key officials in the U.S. government. Most government officials have not commented on the act at all because there were no public deliberations on the act, no politics to delay the act from passing, and no Republican versus Democratic party mud slinging to bring to light weakness or strength in the act. Everything was done in secret and behind closed doors, which really instigated most of the issues still in place today. The most noteworthy vocal supporters of the act were Attorney General John Ashcroft and President George W. Bush. President George W. Bush's speech announcing the USA PATRIOT Act gave his reasons for signing it (Lindauer). He thinks that the Act was completely necessary to prevent any more such acts as that occurred on 9/11/01. He refers to the terrorists as people who will stop at nothing to hurt and destroy the U.S., and so he declared, "These terrorists must be pursued; they must be defeated; and they must be brought to justice. And that is the purpose of this legislation... The bill before me takes account of the new realities and dangers posed by modern terrorists. It will help law enforcement to identify, to dismantle, to disrupt, and to punish terrorists before they strike" (Somney). He also believes that the Act passed so quickly though congress because "it upholds and respects the civil liberties guaranteed by our Constitution" (Somney).

The main question in play today is; has the Patriot Act actually been successful in capturing terrorists? Thankfully, the answer to this question is a resounding yes. Proponents of the Act understand that the methods of releasing restrictions on law enforcement and allowing arrests based on suspicion can infringe on public freedom, but since the events of September 11th, the Patriot Act has been instrumental in the arrest of 310 suspected terrorists (NCPA). While statistically the number is not as high as expected, there is no limit to the gratitude and feeling of safety that has now entered the hearts of the American people. September 11th crippled the United States