The United States Patriot Act - Term Paper Example

The United s Patriot Act The main purpose On October 26 2001, the then president of the United s of AmericaGeorge Washington Bush signed the USA Patriot bill into law. The ACT was developed in response to the September 11th New York attack by suspected Al-Qaida terrorist network, which killed hundreds of American men and women and destroyed the core of New York’s central business district. Therefore, the major purpose for the enactment of the act was to deter, to detect and to have reasonable ground to prosecute those people, who commit acts of terrorism on the American soil and around the world. The law was developed to equip United States security organs with enough teeth to carry out their investigatory role and that of protection of America. As consequence of this, the act aimed at strengthening the measures that were aimed at preventing, detecting, and prosecuting the money launders and those who finance terrorism. Secondly, the act was developed to subject certain foreign financial institutions to scrutiny and analyze certain transactions or some accounts are prone to criminal abuse. Finally, the Act was designed to back the development of anti-money laundering units in the country, and in other countries (Susan, 2004). In addition, the act was enacted with the objective of strengthening the processes of stopping or averting the usage of the United States financial system by unethical individuals and suspected criminals in other countries and aids the return of stolen money back. Historical perspective This act is the culmination of very many centuries of development of laws and other historical and political happenings that have shaped the domestic security situations in America. The development of this act can be traced back to 1798, when the alien and sedition Act was passed, this was developed in order to make it illegal for anybody to criticize the American president. The act gave the president immense powers to deport anybody and especially aliens whom were considered to risky to the American people and American property. At the beginning of the civil war of America, the then president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln issued a notice to suspend the habeas corpus, this had the effect of providing the rioters and those who protested to be arrested and jailed without formal charges. At the height of World War 1, there were 75 foreigners believed to be German-American socialists who were denied certain mailing rights and privileges. The law also provided the security organs with the mantle to censor all forms of communication that was moving in and out of the country. After the bombing of the Pearl Harbor by the Japanese naval military, the supreme court of the United States upheld President Roosevelt executive order that led to the transfer of Japanese-Americans from the west coast, and this was in defense of the harbor bombing by the Japanese military. The patriot act: fulfilling the intended purpose The act has led to stifling of individual’s liberty, but in the face of all the terror acts and attempted terror on American soil, which issue is more fundamental, liberty or safety? The act has helped information sharing amongst different security organs in the country, allowing greater cooperation and reducing bureaucracy. This information exchange has lead to laudable benefits in terms of operations of the different agencies tasked with collecting information and countering terrorism. This especially applied to the two federal security organs in the country, the FBI and the CIA, The act gave these two agencies more freedom and powers and in their collusion, they managed to set up strings of operations nabbing suspected terrorists and foiling their attempts and in addition, they have nabbed major money laundering rackets. Since the enactment, of the act there has not been any reported large-scale terror attack on the United States to the magnitude of the September 11 2001 attack. The critics of the Acts point towards how the Act has stifled freedom in the country, they should appreciate the magnanimity of the bill, and it has been applied to prevent several attacks on the American soil. The only major flaw of the act is that it has elevated the role of federal security agency to be judicial (Paye). Considering the purpose for which the act was enacted, most legal experts concur that the act has been successful; there are three terrorist attempts that have been foiled in the United States. The three alleged attempts were targeted at Springfield, Dallas and the city of New York. The terrorist were targeting a federal a skyscraper in the city of Springfield, a building in Dallas and a subway in the city of New York with three different powerful bombs. Had the security organs of the United States failed in these three attempts, it would have resulted in catastrophic loss of lives and properties. The security organs claim that three attempted attacks were not the only ones foiled since the enactment of the act, in fact, they claim that there were as many as 26 attempted attacks that were foiled. Examples of the results of the act In the year 2002, the Lackawanna six- this was the termed coined for the six Yemeni-Americans who were secretly giving financial support to the al-Qaida network, this after they had attended a training camp organized by the terrorist network in the year 2001. The success of this operation by the security agents was accredited to the provisions of the act, both the agents of counter terrorism and those of narcotics were able to share information, this never happened before the enactment of the act. Another pointer towards the correct usage of the act is the Portland seven investigations; these were a group of Muslims born in America, around the Oregon region in Portland. They were held in the year 2002 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation unearthed their terror plot in the United States, and were on the verge of joining the al-Qaida; a terror group. Their capture was attributable to the provision in the act, which gives security agents the role of surveillance, this prevented major attacks on Jewish establishments such as synagogues and schools. Work Cited Paye, Jean-Claude. A Permanent State of Emergency. Monthly Review, November, (2006): Volume 58, Number 7. Read More