Week 8 – Charlene Lupo

/in /by

    • Suggest an additional benefit or criticism of the U.S. Patriot Act.
    • Provide additional information on the country a colleague
      selected to compare to the United States, and explain the significance
      of this information.       Respond to Charlene as if you’re having a conversation with him. A few sentences and a question

It
is not hard to imagine that in 1995 a study by the RAND with the
assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that local law
enforcement agencies were not prepared to handle an act of terrorism
(Davis, Riley, Ridgeway, Pace, Cotton, Steinberg, Damphousse, and Smith,
2004), nor was there an active infrastructure of agencies across
departments of the criminal justice system. One of the first known acts
of terrorism in the United States took place in New York City in the
year 1914. While the bombing was botched as it had been intended for
the Rockefeller family ignited on the top floor of the tenement building
on 1626 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York (Roberts, 2017). Then we
move to 1920 – the Wall Street Bombing which killed 38 people and
injured hundreds more (Kiriakova, n.d.).

September
11, 2001, terrorist act against the United States changed our country
and its citizens in numerous ways. From this violent crime against the
American people, the
Executive Branch of our government incorporated into law the USA
Patriot Act (U.S. Department of Justice, n.d.). As stated in the
article, The USA Patriot Act: Preserving Life and Liberty, law
enforcement already had the means and ways to track, investigate, and
gather information, but this was not possible through court orders,
subpoenas, or warrants against a suspected terrorist (ibid). The act
enabled law enforcement to pursue suspected terrorist through
wiretapping, profiling, delayed search warrants, obtain business records
of terrorist associates and more on a more aggressive state (ibid).

The
U.S. Patriot Act opened doors for law enforcement and agents to look
and investigate prospective terrorist acts such as the allowance of
surveillance tools. Crimes such as chemical weapons crimes, killing
Americans abroad and financing terrorist acts of crime. Staying abreast
on communication and location surveillance of terrorist is now allowed
utilizing tapping cell phones will afford investigators the tools needed
for national security protection and detection of terrorist. One of
the crucial efforts of the Patriot Act is that it encouraged federal,
state, and local agencies to work together, to collaborate information,
taking away the legal barriers that kept intelligence, national defense,
and local agencies from working together (U.S. Department of Justice,
n.d.). Another positive aspect of the Patriot Act is that it updated
laws to reflect the changing in technology. It is increasing the penalty
for those who commit terrorist acts. This portion also prohibits
individuals from harboring or concealing terrorist in the United States
and abroad (Ibid). Along with other provisions and tightening of the
law of terrorist, the act provides for no statute of limitation on acts
of terrorism (Ibid).

A living document, reviewed every two years, the United Nations Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy unanimously agrees to stand together and
fight terrorist and terrorist acts of any nature (United Nations Office
of Counter Terrorism, n.d.). This committee representing nations of the
world are coordinating efforts to address terrorism as one. GOV.UK,
(2017), still advises the public that international terrorism remains a
threat to British nationals which can happen at any time and any place
in the world. They also caution Americans to be aware of possible
threats when traveling or living internationally (Ibid).

Privacy, is there such a “thing” anymore? We post our personal lives
on social media, we bank online, purchase online, and conduct business
online. Our social security number is used for everything these days.
Case in point, I went into a local chain to purchase some items. While
ready to pay the sales clerk to ask for my phone number. I asked what
does my number have to do with buying (of course I knew)? Then she
proceeds to ask for my address and so forth until finally, I said: “I
just want to buy this product.” Everything about us as individuals is
available to someone somewhere. Losing a little privacy for the sake of
our protection and lives should not warrant any type of fear. The
government is not interested in where we go and what we read at the
library (U.S. Department of Justice, dispelling the myths).

References

Davis, L. M, Riley, K. J., Ridgeway, G., Pace, J., Cotton, S. K., Steinberg, P. S., Damphousse,

K., & Smith, B. L. (2004). When terrorism hits home: How prepared are state and local law enforcement

. Retrieved from

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG104.sum.pdf