The USA Patriot Act - Thesis Example

? of the of the of the USA PATRIOT Act Thesis ment The USA PATRIOT Act 2001 was enacted to strengthen national security and federal intelligence, in order to deter and punish terrorism. Introduction The United States enacted the USA Patriot Act, in order to prevent terrorist acts in the US and elsewhere in the world. This Act enhances law enforcement by providing a number of investigatory tools. It aims to punish the perpetrators of terrorism at home and the world. This Act fortifies measures to prevent, detect, and prosecute the perpetrators of international money laundering and financing to terrorist activities (USA PATRIOT Act). The Department of Justice designed and developed the drafts for this new law. This legislation is intended to fortify the measures and reinforce the available tools to deal with domestic and international terrorism. It also provides a number of new techniques to the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors (Jenks). Under these interventions, the US agencies can identify and prosecute terrorist networks at the national and international levels. Central to the US PATRIOT Act is its unique feature of streamlining communications between the different agencies addressing terrorism and terrorist activities. This Act has simplified the task of investigation and surveillance, by introducing less involved procedures. Funding for the victims of terrorist acts and the families of such victims has been substantially enhanced under the provisions of this exemplary Act. Moreover, it provides ample funds for reconstructing infrastructure and business that had been destroyed or damaged by terrorism (Fritscher). This Act has been sub – divided into 10 sections or titles. These titles consist of several sections that explain the provisions of that particular title. A concrete definition is provided in the titles and sections to the federal government. The aim of this delineation is to clarify the powers conferred upon the enforcement agencies, with regard to the investigation of terrorist activities. It is important to note that the provisions of the US PATRIOT Act also contain several checks and balances that are aimed at preventing the abuse of power (Fritscher). Argument 1 The USA PATRIOT Act establishes special scrutiny measures for foreign jurisdictions. Thus, enforcement officials can prosecute international terrorist organizations and foreign financial institutions. It also empowers them to deal with certain classes of international transactions and accounts, if these are suspected of being put to criminal use. This Act requires all international financial service agencies to monitor their transactions and to report any instances of money laundering. The Act further strengthens measures to prevent the misuse of the US financial system for personal gains, by corrupt foreign officials (USA PATRIOT Act). In addition, it provides mechanisms to repatriate stolen assets to the country to which they belong. Prior to the enactment of the US PATRIOT Act, the law enforcement agencies of the US had found it very difficult to take direct action, in order to prevent acts of terrorism or to monitor terrorist activity in the country. It was believed in many quarters that substantial alterations had to be made to the existing laws, if the contemporary terrorist organizations were to be dealt with in a competent manner (Patriot Act 2001). These terrorist organizations, such as the notorious al Qaeda, were very well organized and had access to the highly sophisticated contemporary communications technology. The proponents of increased domestic surveillance have rightly claimed that the harm caused by the possibility of breach of the rights of the US citizens was insignificant. This was in comparison to the immeasurable harm that terrorists could inflict upon the nation, by taking advantage of the absence of domestic surveillance. Such surveillance is indispensable if another terrorist attack of the proportion of the 9/11 catastrophe or worse is to be avoided (Patriot Act 2001). Argument 2 The US PATRIOT Act was enacted with the express objective of dissuading and punishing terrorist acts in the US and the rest of the world. It was also aimed at improving the investigatory tools of law enforcement. It was supported by the Democrats and the Republicans, and its more restrictive clauses had been promoted by the unswerving Republicans in the Bush administration. In fact, the US PATRIOT Act is a collection of amendments to a number of the extant laws. Some of the laws to which drastic changes had been effected, were the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1968, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (Patriot Act 2001). There was near unanimous agreement in the US that strong interventions were necessary to deter and punish terrorist acts and activities. Nevertheless a few were of the opinion that the US PATRIOT Act of 2001 was more stringent than was called for by the situation. This Act permits electronic surveillance among other measures. It also empowers the enforcement agencies to access library records (Preface to 'Are the Wiretapping Provisions of the Patriot Act Necessary?'). These misgivings regarding the surveillance measures adopted in the US are not justified, as they have prevented further terrorist acts. Argument 3 The so called champion of liberty, namely the American Civil Liberties Union, has termed the USA PATRIOT Act as a subterfuge of the government to curtail freedom in the US. This Act has made it very convenient to subject the citizenry to surveillance by monitoring communication by electronic mail and telephone, access information about bank transactions, and internet activity (Protecting liberty by taking it away). A major lacuna with the USA PATRIOT Act lies in the fact that it does not adequately emphasize that the Immigration and Naturalization Service should faithfully implement the extant immigration laws. This is of great significance, because the effective and diligent application of these laws is indispensable in the war on terrorism. This has enables terrorists to freely enter the US and perpetrate terrorist acts. The fundamental objective of the Immigration and Naturalization Service is to allow aliens into the US. In addition, political considerations play a major role in determining the stringency with which immigrants are examined, with regard to their antecedents and credentials (Jenks). Moreover, the USA PATRIOT Act’s provisions relating to immigration do not direct the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the State Department to take immediate action. In general, this Act merely stipulates the conduct of studies relating to potential future courses of action. Furthermore, progress reports are required under the law and not immediate implementation of some of the programs specified by Congress in the year 1996 (Jenks). Nevertheless, the USA PATRIOT Act incorporates several provisions relating to immigration, which are certain to enhance the capacity to identify and reject or prosecute aliens with terrorist associations. However, this Act is not comprehensive in addressing the issue of immigrants, and much more is necessary in this area. The US immigration policy has to be reviewed and reformed to a considerable extent, if it is to prove equal to the task of preventing terrorists from perpetrating terrorist attacks on the US and its interests (Jenks). The American Civil Liberties Union has stressed that this Act renders the ordinary US citizen a suspect of terrorism. It has also contended that even a single terrorist plot has not been prevented, by the US PATRIOT Act. On the other hand this Act has made many innocent US citizens and foreigners suspects in the eyes of the law enforcement agencies. This Act has encompassed the areas of money laundering, electronic surveillance, immigration and foreign intelligence (Protecting liberty by taking it away). These aspersions are unjustified. The reality is that after the USA PATRIOT Act 2001 was enacted, terrorist activity has not been reported in the US. This is a significant achievement and deserves unqualified praise from all sections of society. The events that culminated in the dastardly September 11 attacks were thoroughly examined and a holistic response was designed and enacted as the USA PATRIOT Act 2001. A very disturbing revelation of this process was that bureaucratic procedures had prevented vital surveillance that could have detected this infamous plot. Not surprisingly, the emphasis in the USA PATRIOT Act 2001 was that any future attempts of this nature would be detected and prevented by the US government (Fritscher). Conclusion As such, The US PATRIOT Act 2001 was enacted in response to the realization that there were serious weaknesses in national security and federal intelligence. As of date, there are some US citizens who sincerely believe that this Act violates their civil liberties. On the other hand there are a significant number of individuals who firmly believe that the government should be provided with unlimited access to the personal information of those living in the US, if the integrity and prosperity of the country is to be promoted and preserved (The Mortality of the Patriot Act). The provision of such vast powers to the government makes it possible to obtain crucial information regarding terrorists and their nefarious activities. This in turn, could prove to be instrumental in preventing a terrorist strike, as well as eliminating terrorists. Those who support the provision of such powers to the government consider the security of the nation to be more important than privacy. Furthermore, the government can be trusted to restrict its surveillance to suspects and not to access the private information of the ordinary citizens. Thus, it can be surmised that the USA PATRIOT Act 2001 was enacted with the purpose of strengthening national security and federal intelligence, in the context of preventing and punishing terrorist acts. Works Cited Fritscher, Lisa. "USA Patriot Act: Pros And Cons." 5 November 2007. Web. lifescript. 24 November 2011 . Jenks, Rosemary. "The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001: A Summary of the Anti-Terrorism Law's Immigration-Related Provisions." December 2001. Web. Center for Immigration Studies. 24 November 2011 . "Patriot Act 2001." 2010. Web. Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. 24 November 2011 . "Preface to 'Are the Wiretapping Provisions of the Patriot Act Necessary?'." 2008. Web. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. 24 November 2011 . "Protecting liberty by taking it away." 5 November 2011. Web. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. 24 November 2011 . "The Mortality of the Patriot Act." 2011. Web. 24 November 2011 . "USA PATRIOT Act." n.d. Web. 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