What Is the USA Patriot Act?
Divisive Laws to Stop Terrorism Morphed into A Big Brother Nightmare
The modern world has heard of the controversial Patriot Act, a.k.a. America's "Orwellian" law; but what is it and why is it so infamous?
The Patriot Act is a relic of the Cold War that has evolved into a highly controversial series of laws that, some view as undermining the essence of American Constitutionality. Officially called the USA Patriot Act it stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” Signed into law October 26th 2001, it was a revision of the 1978 FISA Law to increase security.
Passed by President Bush, with overwhelming congressional support, the law revamped a law that came out during another highly emotional and challenging time - the Watergate era. Extremely expensive, Patriot passed rapidly (45 days) and its descendents are the bills receiving an increased amount of scrutiny; raising questions about the law itself. David Cole, professor at Georgetown University Law Center wrote in a March 2003 Nation Magazine article: “it is one thing to play politics…it is another matter to do so with a bill that would radically alter [American] rights and freedoms.”
The Law: is actually a series of 10 laws and bills that have evolved over the years into a law stew whose jurisdiction is blurred.
- FISA - Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 1978 was the original surveillance law created after Watergate. It defined 4 main areas: electronic surveillance; physical searches; bugging devices and access to business records for foreign intelligence purposes.
- USA Patriot Act I - Professor Cole says: “…the Patriot Act was so named to imply that those who question its sweeping new powers of surveillance, detention and prosecution are traitors.” According to an ACLU paper, the law: “Expands terrorism laws to include ‘domestic terrorism’… Expands…secret…phone and Internet surveillance, and access to highly personal medical, financial, mental health…records…..to investigate American citizens for criminal matters without probable cause…[and] permits non-citizens to be jailed based on mere suspicion…”
- USA Patriot Act II – Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA) – was the beginning of serious examinations of the law. Ultimately it was defeated when prominent individuals started questioning various aspects of the bill. Tom Troy of the Toledo Blade newspaper quoted Chris Link of the ACLU in December 2003: "When Patriot Act II was leaked, that caused a huge outcry and it disappeared."
- HR 3179, Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003! However, parts of Patriot Act II still found its way into law. Kim Zetter of WIRED wrote in June 2004: “It contains four sections that first appeared in a proposed piece of legislation dubbed Patriot Act II.” The Son of Patriot states the “FBI doesn't need a court order or probable cause to obtain the transaction records for patrons of libraries, Internet service providers, telephone companies, casinos, travel agents, jewelers, car dealers or other businesses….[they] can simply draft a ‘national security letter’….” The bill also makes it a crime to let anyone know you received a “national security letter.” Jeff Lungren, spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee said to Zetter: "Right now you can't disclose if you receive a national security letter," he said. "But if you do disclose it, there is no penalty for that….no stick.” HR 3179 provides the "stick!"
- Protect America Act of 2007 is the current version of the Patriot Act that entails numerous provisions of different Senate and House bills introduced over the last 18 months. The most contentious areas of the law are surveillance and deportation. As Professor Cole says: “To date, the ‘war on terrorism’ has largely been directed at non-citizens, especially Arabs and Muslims.” This law “provides that any citizen…who supports even the lawful activities of an organization the executive branch deems ‘terrorist’ is presumptively stripped of his or her citizenship…[and] then be subject to…deportation.”
