Assignment: Controversy Surrounding the Patriot Act
The USA Patriot Act was created to protect the United States against terrorism. The USA Patriot Act is an extensive piece of legislation that includes amendments to many other laws. The act has proved to be controversial because of the way it was introduced after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. Since Congress at that time was extremely receptive to increasing law enforcement capabilities to fight terrorism, it passed the Patriot Act with virtually no debate.
One of the controversial sections of the act extends the capabilities of law enforcement to searching and wiretapping and includes provisions for gag orders. While conducting a search, the law enforcement officials are provided the authority to curtail certain rights of the subject of the search.
Also, the law enforcement authorities may not disclose any information to the media or other authorities while conducting the search. The investment of such powers to law enforcement authorities has been praised by some and criticized by others.
Tasks:
Write a paper comprising 3-5 pages, keeping in mind the following points:
