Introduction
This pathfinder is targeted for anyone who doesn’t know much about the USA Patriot Act. The target group for this exercise is anyone who is a citizen of the United States, and would like to know more about the act and what it has in store for our country.
Reference Books
1. USA PATRIOT ACT
This a reference book that can be found in most university libraries. This book covers many aspects of the Patriot Act and why was it formed. This book informs the readers that the Patriot Act stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorists. This U.S. federal law intended to give federal authorities increased abilities to combat international and domestic terrorism. It became quickly enacted with little opposition in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorists attacks.
." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 07 September 2012.
2. Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, And Voices
In this reference book it discussed the Patriot Act’s counterterrorism and the concerns about monitoring the libraries. Because of the Patriot Act’s counterterrorism provisions, the FBI are granted greater latitude to tap telephone calls and Internet communications; search financial, tax, medical, library, and school records; monitor the activities of foreigners inside U.S. borders; and conduct “sneak and peek” searches of homes or businesses .
"USA PATRIOT Act." Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 07 September 2012.
3. The Great American History Fact Finder
The act gives federal investigators sweeping new powers to probe terrorism. Among its provisions, it allows the government much greater freedom to share information, seize property, expand wiretaps, track electronic and Internet communications, and conduct searches. It triples the number of personnel along U.S. borders and expands the powers of the attorney general to detain any foreigner believed to be involved in terrorist activity. Many oppose the law, saying it threatens civil liberties and violates the Constitution by giving law enforcement too much power.
"U.S.A. Patriot Act." The Great American History Fact-Finder. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 07 September 2012.
4. USA Patriot Act in the 911 Encyclopedia
The act made it a federal crime to harbor a terrorist. It also increased criminal penalties for a laundry list of offenses, ranging from conspiracy to commit terrorism to interference with a flight crew. Search warrants became easy to obtain in terrorist-related investigations. The Attorney General was authorized to detain foreign terrorism suspects for a full week without initiating any type of legal proceeding or having to show cause. Finally, the law provided for new financial and legal tools to end international money laundering. The only restriction on this law was that its surveillance and wiretap provisions were required to be renewed in 2005.
"USA PATRIOT Act." The 9/11 Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 02 October 2012.
5. Critics of Patriot Act
Critics of the USA PATRIOT Act have come from two ends of the political spectrum. Among the leading critics has been the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). From the other end of the spectrum, a second leading critic has been the oldest conservative grassroots lobbying organization in the country, the American Conservative Union (ACU). The ACLU's opposition is based on the argument that the law violates rights to privacy. In contrast, the ACU's opposition stems from its belief in the need to limit federal authority. Both organizations are hesitant about the use of anti-terrorism investigations to charge American citizens of crimes unrelated to terrorism. The PATRIOT Act has been used to investigate everything from murder to child pornography. Together the ACLU and ACU have lobbied to amend the USA PATRIOT Act to ensure protection for civil liberties.
"USA PATRIOT Act." The 9/11 Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 02 October 2012.
6. USA Patriot Act in the Columbian Dictionary
Civil libertarians, librarians, and others have protested changes made by the act that have the potential to lead to law-enforcement abuses, including reduced judicial oversight of wiretaps, expanded law-enforcement access to records held by third-party businesses and organizations, and an ambiguously broadened definition of providing material support to terrorists. Such concerns have been partly prompted by the fact that the USA PATRIOT Act was designed in part to reduce restrictions enacted in response to abuses of government power associated with Watergate, anti–Vietnam War protesters, civil-rights groups, and the like.
Books
1. Patriot Act of 2001: Balancing Civil Liberties and National Security
This book examines the actions of presidential administrations especially the administration of Republican president George W. Bush as they slowly assessed the unique threat that radical suicidal Islamic fundamentals pose to a free and open democratic society. Reassessment led immediately after 9/11, to the development of a national security policy in order to prevent another day of infamy.
The USA Patriot Act of 2001 : balancing civil liberties and national security : a reference handbook/ Ball, Howard. The USA
2. Money Laundering Prevention: Deterring, Detecting, and Resolving Financial Fraud
Historically, combating money laundering has been a cat-and-mouse game. From required paper records to the dawn of the cashless era, and with the regulators increasing requirements steadily, money launderers respond with more inventive schemes and abuses of technology. With the Patriot Act, the focus shifted from the prosecution of narcotics traffickers to the suppression of terror financing. Since both use the same mechanisms, this effectively meant finding ways to screen for much smaller sized transactions. Through technology and training and audit provisions, the steps required to stop money laundering at brick-and-mortar level of banking are picking up speed. However, monetary accommodation, circulation, and alternative technologies are resulting in laundering processes that produce world-class clean money faster than ever before.
Turner, Jonathan E.. Money Laundering Prevention: Deterring, Detecting, and Resolving Financial Fraud. John Wiley & Sons, © 2011. Books24x7. Web. Oct. 2, 2012.
http://common.books24x7.com.logon.lynx.lib.usm.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=44395
3. Hospitals & Healthcare Organizations: Management Strategies, Operational Techniques, Tools, Templates and Case Studies
The USA PATRIOT Act comprises sections covering a variety of topics. Much of the act revises or updates laws already in the United States Code (U.S.C.) in order to better coordinate efforts against terrorism. It is complemented by Executive Order #13224 and U.N. Security Council Resolution #1373, as monitored by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) through its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list and Terror Exclusion List (TEL).
Merino, David, and Hope Rachel Hetico (eds). "Chapter 7 - Implications of the USA PATRIOT and Sarbanes–Oxley Acts for Hospitals—Operational Policies for Affected Health Care Organizations". Hospitals & Healthcare Organizations: Management Strategies, Operational Techniques, Tools, Templates and Case Studies. Auerbach Publications, © 2013. Books24x7. Web. Oct. 2, 2012. http://common.books24x7.com.logon.lynx.lib.usm.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=47205
4. Equal Justice in the Balance: America's Legal Response to the Emerging Terrorist Threat
The fourth chapter on the USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act), rushed through Congress in twenty four hours on 26 October 2001, eloquently illustrates the total lack of balance between the protection of civil liberties and the exuberant power given to the Executive. The Act amends more than fifteen Statutes and grants sweeping new powers to law enforcement and intelligence officials. Moreover, it was not carefully analysed, studied or debated. The Act creates new crimes, extends Statutes of Limitation, increases penalties and grants unlimited power to the Executive branch without judicial or Congressional oversight. Even if, as the authors maintain, such legislative overhaul was essential to the anti-terrorism agenda, Congress also neglected its constitutional responsibility to oversee and limit, if necessary, the Executive's power to abuse its new authority. They cite Senator Leahy, who admitted that, although the rush was necessary, the Bill might face difficult tests in courts and that it might have to be revisited in the future.3 The Act expands surveillance authority and threats to privacy, amends the Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA), conjoins criminal investigation with foreign intelligence gathering and severely threatens due process by permitting double jeopardy in contravention of the Fifth Amendment. It also allows for indefinite detention and deportation. At the end of the chapter, the authors provide a useful table comparing section 412 of the Act dealing with detention of alien terrorist suspects and the presidential military order of November 2001 (P. 147).
Mack, Raneta Lawson, and Michael J. Kelly. Equal Justice in the Balance: America's Legal Responses to the Emerging Terrorist Threat. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2004. Print.
5. How Patriotic Is the Patriot Act? Freedom versus Security in the Age of Terrorism
In this book Amitai Etzioni argues, 'any reasonable deliberation about our national security is the recognition that we face two profound commitments: protecting our homeland and safeguarding our rights.' In this short book, Etzioni, the well-known and respected public intellectual and communitarian thinker, charts a middle course, or third way 'between those who are committed to shore up our liberties but blind to the needs of public security, as well as those who never met a right they are not willing to curtail to give authorities an even freer hand.' This book will prove a useful guide for citizens looking for a thought provoking, well-reasoned and sober analysis of one of the hot button issues of our time.
Webpages
1. American Civil Liberties Union
This webpage talks about how just six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a panicked Congress passed the "USA/Patriot Act," an overnight revision of the nation's surveillance laws that vastly expanded the government's authority to spy on its own citizens, while simultaneously reducing checks and balances on those powers like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court.
"American Civil Liberties Union." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.aclu.org/national-security/surveillance-under-patriot-act>.
2. USA PATRIOT ACT
This webpage talks about the purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act which is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes, some of which include:
•To strengthen U.S. measures to prevent, detect and prosecute international money laundering and financing of terrorism;
•To strengthen measures to prevent use of the U.S. financial system for personal gain by corrupt foreign officials and facilitate repatriation of stolen assets to the citizens of countries to whom such assets belong.
"USA PATRIOT Act." USA Patriot Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/>.
3. What Is the USA Patriot Act
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. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during the floor debate about the Act, "the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the mob should be good for terrorists." (Cong. Rec., 10/25/01)
"What Is the USA Patriot Web." What Is the USA Patriot Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm>.
4. How Patriot Threatens Online Civil Liberties
Under PATRIOT, civil liberties, especially privacy rights, have taken a severe blow: The law dramatically expands the ability of states and the Federal Government to conduct surveillance of American citizens. The Government can monitor an individual's web surfing records, use roving wiretaps to monitor phone calls made by individuals "proximate" to the primary person being tapped, access Internet Service Provider records, and monitor the private records of people involved in legitimate protests.
PATRIOT is not limited to terrorism. The Government can add samples to DNA databases for individuals convicted of "any crime of violence." Government spying on suspected computer trespassers requires no court order. Wiretaps are now allowed for any suspected violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, offering possibilities for Government spying on any computer user.
"How PATRIOT Threatens Online Civil Liberties." EFF:. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://w2.eff.org/patriot/why.php>.
5. PATRIOT ACT
The USA PATRIOT Act has generated a great deal of controversy since its enactment. Opponents of the Act have been quite vocal in asserting that it was passed opportunistically after the September 11 attacks, believing there to have been little debate. They view the Act as one that was hurried through the Senate with little change before it was passed. The sheer magnitude of the Act itself was noted by Michael Moore in his controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11. In one of the scenes of the movie, he records Congressman Jim McDermott alleging that no Senator read the and John Conyers, Jr. as saying, "We don't read most of the bills. Do you really know what that would entail if we read every bill that we passed?" Congressman Conyers then answers his own rhetorical question, asserting that if they did it would "slow down the legislative process". As a dramatic device, Moore then hired an ice-cream van and drove around Washington, D.C. with a loud speaker, reading out the Act to puzzled passers-by, which included a few Senators.
"Patriot Act." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act>.
Conclusion
Since researching the Patriot Act I have gained a lot of knowledge about the act and the reasons why it was actually made a law. I found that some people agreed and disagreed with the law because they think it is unconstitutional and that it ties into our rights as people.
