POLS 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Patriot Act, Counter-Terrorism
5 May 2018
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Kim 1
USA Patriot Act
After the events of September 11, the Department of Justice’s first priority was to prevent
future terrorist attacks from occurring which led to implementing new policies that prevented
any attacks (Haggerty, 2007). Only 45 days after the attack on Twin Towers, the Patriot Act was
the first change to surveillance laws. The USA Patriot Act made it easier for the government to
“spy” on American citizens by allowing the government to monitor communications through
emails and phone, access credit and bank records, and track internet activity of Americans
(Gordon-Murnane, 2002). This act also authorized a warrant known as “sneak and peak”
searches which allowed the government to search the businesses and homes of ordinary citizens
without noticing them that they are being searched until months later (Matz, 2008, p. 72). This
has significantly changed the face of surveillance for American citizens because the act
expanded the rights of the government to invade the privacy rights of citizens (Bamford, 2006, p.
68). There have been studies conducted to determine how much of this policy effectively stopped
acts of terrorism and it was discovered that even the government justified the creation of this act
for national security concerns, the “sneak peak” search warrants overwhelmingly issued in major
drug cases and were used for terrorism cases for less than one percent (Alan, 2007, p. 128). This
law essentially provided the government the ability the freedom to get more information and
lowered the standard for them to access the information.
There has been a wide variety of reactions to the Patriot Act from the citizens who are affected
by this legislation. Some citizens were okay with the Patriot Act and were even appreciative
towards it. “The costs and the impact is low. The NSA does not care about the email to your
child’s preschool teacher. The benefit of the law is that it gives government counterterrorism
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Document Summary
After the events of september 11, the department of justice"s first priority was to prevent future terrorist attacks from occurring which led to implementing new policies that prevented any attacks (haggerty, 2007). Only 45 days after the attack on twin towers, the patriot act was the first change to surveillance laws. The usa patriot act made it easier for the government to. Spy on american citizens by allowing the government to monitor communications through emails and phone, access credit and bank records, and track internet activity of americans (gordon-murnane, 2002). This has significantly changed the face of surveillance for american citizens because the act expanded the rights of the government to invade the privacy rights of citizens (bamford, 2006, p. This law essentially provided the government the ability the freedom to get more information and lowered the standard for them to access the information.
