Blog Post 5: Another look at the Patriot Act

In my previous post, I talked about the Patriot Act and what it is. This law has been around for quite some time and has gone through some changes. Some of the issues I will mention may not be a problem with the law today. The purpose of this post is to give an overall look at the issues that the Patriot Act has had. I mentioned that this law killed balance in our country. This balance is between national security and civil liberties. There are many issues to address with the Patriot Act since it became law. These issues will illustrate how the Patriot Act destroyed that balance. These issues are threats to the civil liberties we are guaranteed to have by the Constitution. Some of these issues will touch on due process and invasion of privacy.

Jennifer Bergen says that the designation provision authorizes the Attorney General or Secretary of State to designate a foreign organization as a terrorist group. Now these groups are supposed to be funding money and resources to terrorist. The issue is that there was no way to verify whether the designation is just because you cannot challenge or review it. The administrative records can be sealed and because of this, any challenge that could be used is ineffective. According to Jennifer Bergen, if you do manage to bring it to court, the review may not be impartial because review is limited to the District of Columbia Circuit court. There is no way for there to be some sort of oversight. An organization can be designated a terrorist group and they may not even be one. Because it is illegal to support terrorism, this group that has been designated as one could be arrested. These people that are arrested could spend the rest of their lives in jail based on the designation that may not be true. Since it cannot be challenged, due process is not found. Bergen says that because evidence is sealed, there is also another violation of rights, which is the Sixth Amendment right to confront evidence against oneself. How can you confront evidence that is sealed?

The threat to the Fourth Amendment has to do with surveillance and privacy. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA allows the gathering of foreign intelligence information. Because it only applied to foreign intelligence, you would think that the Fourth Amendment was in no danger. But under the Patriot Act, you could become a target. According to Jennifer Bergen, this means that if you speak to a friend or relative in the Middle East and that person gave money at some point to an organization that provides humanitarian aid to a group suspected of ties to terrorism, you are a legitimate target for wire, phone, or computer taps under FISA. This provision authorizes search and seizure of any third-party maintained records, which can be medical, educational and financial. It also allows for records to be obtained without even going to a court to get a warrant. Searches without a warrant were permitted with the Patriot Act to enhance national security. Jennifer Bergen says that all requests for foreign intelligence warrants to tap or search are presented to the FISA Court. This court is a secret court and the existence of such a thing is unheard of. This court would determine all requests by the FBI to wiretap or search a foreign intelligence target. But, the key here is, foreign did not necessarily mean foreigners. The target could be you or me if we were suspected in anyway to be in connection with foreign groups that were designated as a terrorist group. Probable cause is usually criteria for a search, which is ignored. In essence, the government could spy on anyone they pleased as long as they are suspected to be part of terrorism in some way.

National security letters was another issue. Sharla Cook explains that national Security Letters are self-issued subpoenas that allow investigators in terrorism and espionage cases to require phone companies, banks, credit reporting agencies and internet service providers to turn over records on Americans considered "relevant" to an investigation. These letters allowed government agencies to get anything that was needed to protect national security. According to Sharla Cook, they permitted the FBI to obtain sensitive personal records without a court order. This is an extension of the section on privacy issues. Pretty much, national security letters allowed law enforcement the ability to get records and data with ease. This was highly abused by the government to gather information to better combat terrorism. But, the problem is they were spying on people like you and me. Is it really all right to do this type of thing without the proper checks and balances? Some would say that it is just fine because national security is important and we cannot allow another incident like the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to happen again. But, we are invading into the privacy of everyone around us. We have the right to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure for a reason. The Patriot Act completely bypasses the Constitution and the rights it guarantees us. A good video to check out is linked here click video number four once it has opened.

The Patriot Act gave the executive branch too much power and they abused that power. In the beginning, I believe they needed this power to protect the country and gather more information. This would allow them to better combat terrorism. But, they went too far and the abuse was very apparent. Balance is very important and to have balance you need to have power equally distributed among all branches. This balance of power would also extend to the people. In a democracy, the people have a voice and it must be heard. During the Bush administration, there were a lot of things the people did not like. Regardless of that, the government continued to do whatever they wanted to do. If the proper checks and balances were in effect like they are suppose to be, this would have never happened. This is my solution to the problems with the Patriot Act. Adhere to the rule of law and apply the checks and balances that this country was founded on. To abide by the Constitution and rights that it guarantees to all of us. If the government does these things, I believe a proper balance will be created. This will provide the remedy to the issues that have come from the Patriot Act and the abuse of power by the government.

Works Cited: Bergen, Jennifer Van. The Twilight of Democracy. 2005.

Cook, Sharla. CRJ 132: Violence and Terrorism notes. CSUS. 2009. Chapter 17, Detection and Surveillance, and Detention and Treatment of Prisoners.

PBS Website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/homefront/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid