Patriot Act Article 3

USA PATRIOT Act

Amy Sohm

PS 405 Threats of Terrorism

Assignment 11.2

Part I: What does the USA PATRIOT Act stand for? Discuss how effective the USA PATRIOT Act is.

The USA PATRIOT Act is an acronym meaning: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Interpret and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 1) (Gus Martin, (2010), Understanding Terrorism, Challenges, Perspectives and Issues, 3rd Edition, page 497). That was very creative Bush. The name is long but it says exactly what it is intended to accomplish as a law and put into motion new legislation needed to seek out, apprehend and prosecute terrorists and their sympathizers, legally.

Constitutional law can be a very sticky process. Skilled attorneys knowledgeable in Constitutional law are carefully and specifically trained to see to it our Constitutional rights are protected, yet if challenged by a twisted event like international or domestic terrorism, can and will stand up in a court of law and criminals brought to justice. Right down to local law enforcement, anyone defending and protecting in the US and abroad required some specific guidelines to operate under. Especially now that terrorism respects no borders it’s more important than ever that US laws coordinate with international laws and investigations procedures. We have to work together nation on nation if we hope to gain ground against terrorism.

As normal everyday citizens we take for granted some of the normal day-to-day activities that technology touches and makes our lives easier. What we don’t realize is just how justifiable surveillance has become out of necessity to keep us safe. Bank accounts, identity sources, telephone conversation taps, intercepting computer communication by reading your email or testing your cookies for browser locations and websites has rewritten our nation’s code of ethics. Personally, I don’t have anything to hide, but move this kind of surveillance overseas, and the snooping gets scary.

My friends who spent a decade in the Middle East as missionaries had to be extremely cautious about content and wording in their monthly emailed newsletters. Any
American in the neighborhood was suspect.

Just Who Knows What About Whom?

Have you ever “googled” your name? First and last name search results of my name brings up my name, current address, city, state, age and link you can click on to purchase a package that will reveal even more details about you. I have a couple of people from my past I don’t want to find me. One is an abusive ex-husband. If he really wanted to, all he would have to do is “google” my name and he’d know just where to find me.

Just who provides the general public with this information? Computer search engines like Google or Yahoo are unimaginably huge data-bases forever collecting information that moves across the internet. While submitting a term a paper for a college class, you can plug it into a website called “Turn it in” and it will tell you what percent of your paper is plagiarized 2) (http://turnitin.com/static/index.html). You may not realize you’re plagiarizing but somewhere at some time, the vast information database of the internet has stored someone else’s published article that uses the same verbiage you use in your paper. All of a sudden, you’re a plagiarizer. The internet is just plain an incredible amount of information in one place at one time. A lot of it is personal.

With that kind of information stored inside that acrylic box pulling in cookies and temporary internet files just to process an email sent or received are traceable by trained professionals and sophisticated hackers. That’s how computer viruses are transmitted as well.

So if the government of any country has legal grounds to suspect and track known terrorists, a terrorist group or cell and also has the technical expertise to do so, cyber space is a wealth of information.

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency or CIA is as mysterious as it is effective. They collect and coordinate information outside of the US for use in criminal justice internationally but especially for the US. After the inception of the New Homeland Security of the US the CIA was the only federal law enforcement agency that was granted continued solidarity. All others combined efforts collectively between departments for efficiency and effectiveness. The CIA’s independence had to remain intact in order to maintain the sensitivity to an organizational structure to function without interference from outside sources 3) (Prepared by the US Government, (March 2009) A Tradecraft Primer: Structured Analytic Techniques for Improving Intelligence Analysis).

The FBI also maintained its status as part of the Department of Justice. All others, the Coast Guard, Customs, Federal Emergency Management Agency and some functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service all became subsidiaries of the New Homeland Security. According to Gus Martin’s textbook, “Understanding Terrorism,” the purpose for consolidation of these departments was to “bring about central operational coordination and put an end to unproductive overlapping duties” 4) (Gus Martin, (2010) Understanding Terrorism, Challenges, Perspectives and Issues, 3rd Edition, page 17). Along with everything else affected by 9/11, the reorganization and formation of the new Department of Homeland Security now had administrative authority collectively not to mention becoming the 3rd largest federal agency.

The question is: did it work? Defragmenting and disorganization was improved upon. Communications and information was the idea. The CIA and FBI boundaries were more clearly defined. FBI takes care of our homeland on homeland shores, the CIA overseas.

Since counter terrorism is the idea, the role the CIA plays causes as much destruction as it does in aiding to apprehend the enemy. The death toll of the 1980’s, 20 years prior to the USA PATRIOT Act, in Nicaragua caused by CIA/contra attacks was well over 30,000 and property and economic damage just shy of $1 billion 5) (Sam Dillon , (1990), A Contra Rampage--With Blessings from the United States APF Reporter Vol.13 #2 Index).

And also since the CIA handles international investigations, their position as support to local law enforcement, the FBI and aiding bounty programs followed through with a certain degree of success. In 1993, a terrorist suspect investigated by the CIA, Mir Aimal Kansi while in the US fled to Pakistan after opening fire on CIA headquarters in Virginia. The very agency intending to apprehend him worked with local law enforcement and the bounty offered paid off. Somebody turned him in, an arrest was made with cooperation from the Pakistani government, and Kansi was brought back to the US incarcerated, tried, convicted and executed for the crimes. Success. When cooperation between Homeland Security departments works along with foreign governments, it works well. 6) (Gus Martin, (2010) Understanding Terrorism, Challenges, Perspectives and Issues, 3rd Edition, page 494).

In addition to victorious cooperation in capturing Kansi, Mike Lima’s joint operations with the CIA in Nicaragua 1983 is considered one of the agencies finer achievements in spite of the high death toll and extreme property damage. CIA operations after Nicaragua sought to mirror the Nicaragua Sandanista and Kansi models. So what happens when it doesn’t work?

International Law

It became evident after prisoners, alleged terrorists guilty of war crimes, made accusations that inhumane treatment and even torture were practiced regularly as disciplinary actions or interrogation techniques. Interrogating has always been a part of POW life. You’re a prisoner of ours, you have information we want and we have ways of making you talk.

The United Nations were already well on their way to organizing efforts for global war crimes to be defined and tried. One of the many functions of the UN is overseeing International Criminal courts and laws. Even prior to 9/11 the UN with many nations represented that are now and have been for some time considered terrorist nations or sympathizers was holding international conventions. One such convention held November 1997 sought to resolve terrorism issues and suppress bombings by terrorists.

Documentation, articles and amendments are quite lengthy as many laws are. Stating the obvious like specifically defining governments, state and war crimes, every nation represented meticulously outlining reasons why or why not nation representation or issue is or is not addressed 7) (UNITED NATIONS, Distr., GENERAL, A/52/653, (25 November 1997), ENGLISH, ORIGINAL: ARABIC AND ENGLISH, Fifty-second session, Agenda item 152).

From the beginning, the United Nations in 1942 with the help of President Franklin D, Roosevelt during World War II, organized 26 nations with the vision to overcome Axis Powers. Axis Powers at the time being Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy and Hirohito’s Japan. 8) (About the United Nations/ Histories, (2000), Basic Facts About the United Nations, Sales No. E.00.I.21.

The need to overcome violent dictatorship into the latter part of the 20th century, calming the fears of the world through the Cold War put the UN in a unique position as liaison for world peace. Not an entirely original idea, conflict resolution between hostile nations in the world based its original charter on the idea that conflict prevention is not only achievable but preferable to war 9) (No author given, (2000), Is Peace in the World a Utopian Dream? The Role of the United Nations, The United Nations and a Culture of Peace,). After two world wars, nations of the world collectively agree on one thing, if there should ever be a 3rd, it could spell inevitable destruction of the world as we know it.

Not everyone views the UN as an asset. In an article written as a result of investigative reporter Martin Scheinin, he found much of the UN’s directives toward anti-terrorism in direct violation of basic human rights and freedoms. Specifically the way detainees are allegedly being treated in prison while being interrogated and awaiting trial, Scheinin cited the USA PATRIOT Act as primary points in weakening the United Nations efforts 10) (No author given, (5/7/2007), While Hailing US Rights Traditions, UN Expert Voices Concern at Anti-Terror Steps, UN News Centre).

Since 2007 more thorough investigations have taken place and a new US president has taken office. Ongoing investigations continue to raise concern. But as my fellow students in this class have stated earlier this week in online discussions, new anti-terrorism laws remove US Constitutional rights to those individuals engaging in terrorist activity toward the US. There again we get into Constitutional law subjectivity as well as the definition of human rights, which is another subject.

Conclusion

I think the US PATRIOT Act was a good starting point. But as the war on terrorism keeps recycling itself and cells divide like cancer, redefinitions to provide for new tactics on war should follow. Law is not my thing, but being an American I AM a bit fond of. Like most Americans I trust my elected officials to cover and protect me and keep America as terrorist free as possible. I see the US PATRIOT Act as a very good effort to do that. Like the reformation of our Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies it can and should be tweaked from time to time.

URL: http://hubpages.com/hub/Terrorism-in-Perspective-11

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