Why the Patriot Act Should Be Extended

By Colleen Cable

Bush-era politics, government invasion of privacy, and the destruction of civil liberties are the foremost images when the Patriot Act comes to mind. The Patriot Act is so mired with these negative images that any mention of the act will immediately repel most Americans. Beyond these off-putting associations, the Patriot Act is not all it’s accused to be. The reauthorization of the Patriot Act is an effective and unobtrusive way to protect national security.

President Obama extended for one year three provisions of the Patriot Act into law on February 27, 2010. The provisions extended are the use of court approved roving wiretaps on multiple technologies, seizure of property and records in anti-terrorism operations, and surveillance of ‘lone wolf’ suspects or non-US citizens who engage in terrorism without being affiliated with a particular organization.

The first extension on roving wiretaps allows investigators to tap multiple technologies for one person, such as more than one phone or a computer. This provision allows for a warrant on a specific person instead of on a specific piece of technology, which allows investigators to more effectively track a suspect. The ability of the government to use wiretaps is not a new practice. They were in use as of 1986, almost two decades before the Patriot Act was passed. The Patriot Act only extends their use to gathering information specifically on terrorists. This does not mean that the government can tap anyone’s phone or computer for no reason or even on minor suspicion. A court approved warrant is a necessary component for using a wiretap. The Patriot Act forbids investigation solely based on First Amendment activities.

During a normal investigation, investigators are only allowed to take information and photographs from the scene of a crime or from a warranted search. With the second extended provision of the Patriot Act, physical evidence can now be removed from the scene in a terrorist investigation. This provision goes further and allows investigators to obtain information from third parties about financial and other information of the suspected person. Again, the government cannot just obtain this kind of information on some random person. This type of investigative tool was used to track down the Unabomber in the 1990s.  There must to be some court approved reasonable cause in order to use this provision. Keep in mind; in over half of the cases tried with evidence used from the Patriot Act have resulted in either a conviction or a guilty plea.

The last provision that was extended is the ‘lone wolf’ provision. This clause allows investigators to track non-US citizens who are not affiliated with a known terrorist organization. Because terrorist groups are often only loosely organized, members may be hard to define. A person who knowingly participates in an act of terrorism, then, is suspect under this clause.

The Patriot Act isn’t an evil entity out to destroy innocent people, nor is it an invention of a Big Brother type government. The Patriot Act aims to target people that are trying to cause destruction and death. The Patriot Act is simply a modernization of old laws so that the federal government can keep up with the advances in technology, while protecting our country from future terrorist attacks.