Patriot Act - Research Paper Example

According to this act, US law enforcement agencies have the access to the privacy of USA citizens and/or foreigners without justifiable cause or public knowledge. However, with the special powers, the act violates the fourth amendment of the USA constitution in regard to the rights of privacy (Etzioni, 2004). The act has been hurriedly passed by the congress due to the panic emanating from the terrorist attack and subsequent anthrax attacks in 2001. The main aim of the enactment of the act was to strengthen security.

Terrorist attacks have also led to the introduction of the Homeland Security Act. This act has been passed on the 25th of November, 2011. The act brought together several federal agencies to form the US Department of Homeland Security (Steffof, 2010). The agencies included were the US Secret Service, the US Coast Guard, the US Custom Service, the Naturalization and Immigration Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The aim of this act was to assist in detection and elimination of terrorist threats by the removal of information barriers between the named government agencies.

The act also provided for the centralizing of surveillance data, which arose from the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act (Polseno, 2005). . Title I of the PATRIOT Act seeks to enhance domestic security. This title specifies measures for domestic security services to enhance terrorism prevention. It established a fund to counter terrorist activities and also a further rise in funding for the FBI. The title also disapproves of the prejudice shown towards Muslim and Arab Americans after the terrorist attacks (Polseno, 2005).

Title II of the Act aims at enhancing surveillance procedures. This deals with surveillance of those suspected in terrorism activities and those involved in computer fraud and abuse. This title allocates powers to government agencies to collect information about US citizens and non-citizens in regard to terrorism. The title stipulates the disclosure of counter intelligence or foreign intelligence to appropriate government officials (Etzioni, 2004). The third title of the act castigates against money-laundering in order to prevent terrorism.

The act provides authority to the treasury secretary to regulate financial transactions, especially those involving entities and foreigners (Polseno, 2005). The act aims at strengthening measures to prevent and detect international money-laundering and financing of terrorism. If detected, such cases are to be prosecuted in the United States through the PATRIOT Act. The act also requires all appropriate United States financial institutions to report about potential money-laundering schemes (Marcovitz, 2008).

The act seeks to strengthen the financial system of the USA and thus to prevent it from being exploited by individuals for their personal gain. It also assists in transferring stolen assets to countries where they belong. The act allows for