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This overview explores the Patriot Act, enacted in October 2001 as a response to the September 11 terror attacks. It examines policy shifts in U.S. national security measures, including the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Patriot Act expanded government surveillance powers, facilitated information sharing between agencies, and allowed for the detention of non-citizens without formal charges, raising concerns over civil liberties. Key legal cases and policy debates about the balance between national security and individual rights are also highlighted.
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American Government and Organization PS1301 Wednesday, 3 December
Quiz • What is the Patriot Act?
Policy Responses to 9/11 • National Security • Joint resolution on 14 Sept. ‘to use all necessary and appropriate force against nations…that he determines planned…the terrorist attacks” • Patriot Act (October 2001) • Department of Homeland Security • Economic • Airline relief bill (October 2001) • Military Response • Invasion of Afghanistan • War in Iraq
Other policy options not adopted or abandoned: • TIPS – Terror Information and Prevention System (govt./private sector workers ‘spies’) see www.citizencorps.gov • Terror Futures Market • Traders could buy and sell futures contracts based on their predictions about what would happen in the region. • Racial profiling at airports
Patriot Act Summary • Enhances executive branch’s power to conduct surveillance, search for money laundering, share intelligence with criminal prosecutors and charge/detain suspected terrorists with crimes.
Patriot Act Provisions • Relaxes restrictions on information sharing between U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officers about suspected terrorists. • Makes it illegal to knowingly harbor a terrorist • Authorizes "roving wiretaps," • Allows the federal government to detain non-U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism for up to seven days without specific charges. • Allows law enforcement officials greater subpoena power for e-mail records of terrorist suspects. • Triples the number of Border Patrol, Customs Service Inspectors and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors • Expands measures against money laundering • Eliminates the statute of limitations for prosecuting the most egregious terrorist acts
Patriot Act – Threat to Civil Liberties • Change in protections from unreasonable search and seizure • Detention of non-citizens, immigrants • Racial profiling
Re-emergence of Patriot Act on the Agenda – end of August 2003 • A report on Tuesday's deadly attack at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad that left a reported 20 people dead • Ashcroft defends patriot act – see video clip
Video • Weighing the Patriot Act: Background • Weighing the Patriot Act: Discussion • The Newshour with Jim Lehrer [PBS] • August 19, 2003
Civil Liberties vs. National Security • Selected post 9/11 court rulings • Rights of Enemy Combatants • Al Odah v. United States (March 2003 • D.C. Circuit Court “aliens detained outside the sovereign territory of the U.S.’ do not enjoy constitutional protections • Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (july 2002) • U.S. citizen arrested in Afghanistan • Sought access to lawyer, 4th circuit, overturned previous ruling denying right
Other post 9/11 decisions • Closed Hearings • North Jersey Media Group Inc. v. Ashcroft Oct. 2002) • Defer to AG [3rd district court] • Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft • 6th circuit court, rejected blanket closure, must decide on case by case basis