Patriot Act
...attacks. Since its passage, the Patriot Act has played a key and controversial part - and often the leading role - in a number of operations to "protect" innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. The act's main reason for its passage was to, in the words of Alberto Gonzales, "preserve the lives and liberty of the American people from the challenges posed by a global terrorist network."
Congress enacted the Patriot Act by overwhelming, bipartisan margins, arming law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism: The USA Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1, and 357-66 in the House, with the support of members from across the political spectrum. Although controversial and somewhat confusing, the primary arguments offered by the Bush Administration in support of this act are as follows:
1. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers, and have been reviewed and approved by the courts.
Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror. Before the Patriot Act, courts could permit law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance to investigate many ordinary, non-terrorism crimes, such as drug crimes, mail fraud, and passport fraud. Agents also could obtain wiretaps to investigate some, but not all, of the crimes that terrorists often commit. The Act enabled investigators to gather information when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes, including: chemical-weapons offenses, the use of weapons of mass destruction, killing Americans abroad, and terrorism financing.
Allows federal agents to...
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