Immediate action taken after 9/11 After one of the most horrific attacks in the history of mankind many drastic changes took place in the constitution of United States. One of the most notable changes included the introduction of Patriot Act on October 2001 (Rowen, 2007). The Patriot Act allowed the government officials to conduct searches without warrants, monitor financial transactions, detain and deport individuals that were suspected of committing terrorist acts. The federal government also developed a security framework that would help to protect their country from large scale terrorist attacks. They introduced “Department of Homeland Security in March 2003 which brought together 22 separate agencies and offices into a single, Cabinet-level department” …show more content…
Television coverage of the terrorist attack and the aftermath lasted for 93 hours(Johnson, 2011). Approximately 45 movies were edited or postponed after these attacks. Various other surveillance programs were introduced by the Bush Administration namely "Presidents Surveillance Program" (Hess, 2009) which involved intelligence activities authorized by the President. "Introduction of a open secret code name known as Stellar Wind" (Johnson, 2011) which was approved by George W Bush was a program that involved "monitoring communications of the American citizens, including email, phone calls, financial transactions and internet activity" (Johnson, 2011). Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments of 2008 authorized "the U.S intelligence community to acquire foreign intelligence information by targeting foreign persons who were believed to be outside the United States" (Journal, 2008). This act ensured that intelligence community had the flexibility and agility it needed to identify and respond to the terrorist and other foreign threats to their security(Journal,
Financial records, library records, travel records, video rentals, phone records, medical records, and religious records can all be searched if the government states that the search is done to protect against terrorism. The act was passed after the 9/11 attack. Similarly to the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the Patriot Act is a severe and controversial act passed in the wake of a severe and controversial event. This act is unconstitutional and disregards the personal liberties of the United States’ citizens.
During an interview of three family members, I was able to learn more information about the events of 9/11. My mom, Jamie Goldman, was the first person I interviewed. She told me she was helping a friend with her new business in Aiken, SC. She first heard on the radio, breaking news, that a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. Her first thought was that a plane had crashed accidentally. As the day went on, she learned of even more horrible acts against our country, and then realized our Nation was under attack from terrorist. My mom was heartbroken, scared, sad, and mad all at the same time. She struggles with forgiving the terrorist but knows that God would want her to forgive them. The song "God Bless the USA" is a song that helps my mom cope with the events of 9/11. My mom did not know anyone personally that was killed or injured on 9/11. She said, "after 9/11, our country has been a country at war. We have stopped loving our neighbors and instead, started judging them."
To better understand the topic at hand it is important to understand what electronic surveillance is pertaining to Foreign Intelligence. The definition of “electronic surveillance”, as written is FISA, can be summarized best as acquisition of data from wire or radio communications using “an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance device”. There are four specific criteria that further define electronic surveillance in more detail also included in FISA under Title 1, Section 101. This section also included definitions for those groups that surveillance may be authorized against. [2]
After the fear of terrorism grew in the United States do to the Al Qaeda 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the US Government found a need for a centralized department that umbrellas all other agencies when it comes to homeland security. The U.S. Government found this umbrella agency with the passage of the Homeland Security Act by Congress in November 2002, the Department of Homeland Security formally came into being as a stand-alone, Cabinet-level department to further coordinate and unify national homeland security efforts. (Homeland Security) With the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the government had a pinpoint location for the collection and gathering of intelligence, control of policies that effect national security, and a no fail mission. The Department of Homeland Security started to engulf other agencies and created many more, a total of 22 agencies now fall under the DHS. The DHS is control of all areas that deal with national security which included but are not limited to coastal and boarder protection, domestic terrorism, international terrorism, protection of the American people, protection of key infrastructure, protection of key resources and respond to natural disasters.
While this act made legislative changes that increased surveillance and the investigative powers of law enforcement agencies to protect America from further terrorist acts, the passing of the USA Patriot Act has reduced the privacy rights of Americans and also does not provide for a system of checks and balances that safeguard civil liberties. Terrorism is a serious matter that should not be handled lightly, but the act has gone over the top in trying to stop terrorism. The USA Patriot Act, enacted for protecting America from further attacks, not only does little if anything to protect Americans, but rather undermines their civil rights. The Patriot Act targets not only terrorists, but also the American people which it intended to protect.
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
...the previous Act. The last Act is the FISA Act of 2008 “The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act”, which allows intelligence professionals to monitor terrorist communications, while protecting civil liberties of Americans, more quickly and efficiently. (USDOJ) These legal changes have allowed not only the investigation and prosecution of terrorists to be more proficient, but it has also help change the structure of the operations of agencies to enhance counter-terrorism efforts.
Since the terrorist attacks at Sept. 11, 2001, the surveillance issue often has turned away the table in the debate of individual privacy or counterterrorism. By passing the Patriot Act, Congress gave President Bush an immense law enforcement authority to boost U.S's counterterrorism, and the President used his enlarged powers to forward specific programs in order to reduce the threat of terrorism and defend the country’s safety.
The U.S. Patriot Act was set in place to better serve our country against terrorism. The U.S. Patriot Act is an Acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Acts (Lithwick). This act is to punish terrorist actions and improve law enforcement not only in the United States but also around the world. The United States Patriot Act consists of over 1,000 sections that describe the act in great detail. The sections include, but are not limited to, the power extended to the government by The U.S. Patriot Act to deport and incarcerate non citizens. With the U.S. Patriot Act a person’s phone line can be tapped, records of any and all purchases checked, and even library records searched. This Act also has sections to help money laundering, expand our country’s border protection, strengthening the extent of criminal laws and provide for people suffering from any type of terrorism acts (Huffman).
...e administration plans to introduce legislation that would alter the N.S.A’s privacy breaches and end its illegal data collections. Citing an identical argument, that the government cannot indicate terrorist attacks that have been stopped by the intelligence gathering programs, a review group of the Administration “called for major changes to the program; the latter also concluded that the bulk collection is illegal.”3
What is the Patriot Act? The USA PATRIOT act was signed into law quickly without much debate back in 2001 right after the September 11th attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. The Patriot Act touches almost everything from more funding for businesses that are affected by terrorist attacks all the way to funding affected families of terrorist attacks. The main reason the Patriot act was put in place was to prevent future terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and overseas attacks on Americans. With the act the government would try to stop the attacks before they take place to prevent American deaths. The Patriot Act was put in place to protect America, and at the time many agreed with the Act and went along with it. That was at first. That was when many Americans felt threatened for their safety. Now, many have had time to reflect back on the Patriot Act and feel differently (Ball 2004 p. 78-84).
...a federal office of homeland security to prevent the nation of future terrorist attacks (September 11, 2006). After September 11th and the declare War on Terror every person of power tried doing whatever they could to help protect our nation. There is no doubt that after this powerful event, important things started to dwindle (September 11, 2006). Some major issues were our economy weakened, unemployment increased, and our recession worsened (September 11, 2006). Airports had it the worse, they had to face bankruptcy, there insurance increased and they had to undertake costly overhauls of their security systems September 11, 2006). War on Terror affected our nation greatly, in different way someone was hurt by it. People tried fixing it and picking up the pieces, but some things just can’t be fixed. Time is the only way our nation will recover.
The foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a United States federal law that outlines and defines the procedures for the surveillance and collection of physical and electronic intelligence in the United States of America. As with any search and seizure operation the surveying agency must obtain a warrant by a court judge to proceed with the spying; FISA went ahead and established its own court by which it obtains its warrants for surveillance. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was created under FISA for the oversight of all surveillance warrants by federal police agencies. This court is served by a body of eleven judges placed there by the chief...
5 Dec. 2013. Gorman, Siobhan, and Jennifer Valentino-Deveries. New Details Show Broader NSA Surveillance Reach. " The Wall Street Journal. N.p., 20 Aug. 2013.
To that point, an article written by Yale Law School, details the impact of chilling effects regarding Executive Order (E.O.) 12.333, which serves as the general charter for mass intelligence surveillance. Most recently, the MFIA Clinic helped the ACLU launch a litigation to learn more about the intricate details of Executive Order 12.333 (Perlin, 2017). According to the literature, increased disclosures regarding the workings of this Executive Order 12.333