New Tools to Track Down Terrorists
by Sophia Tewa
Issue date: 4/1/06 Section: Opinion
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President Bush proposed the USA Patriot Act, on October 26, 2001, to extend the government's judicial and investigative powers against suspected terrorists. Enacted a little more than a month after the September 11th attacks, the patriot Act is now subject to unjustified criticism around the country, namely because it supposedly infringes our civil rights and violates the 4th Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union claims the Patriot Act permits secret surveillance, though no example of abuse of power has been found so far. None of the critics can concretely prove that the Patriot Act diminishes our civil rights liberties. On the contrary, the introduction of the new law enables the government to prevent another attack and to progressively dismantle terrorist networks through legal investigative and judicial techniques. What are those means and why do they guarantee our security rather than obstruct our civil rights?
The Patriot Act updated our nation's counter-terrorism policy: it allows law enforcement to use the technical and judicial means against terrorists that have been already used against other high-profile criminals. It strengthens the federal tools available for conducting surveillance to investigate terrorist crimes. Before the Patriot Act, such surveillance could only be accomplished for ordinary crimes. In a Seattle Times article, "Patriot Act's Tools no Different Than Those Used to Fight Crime," John McKay points out that investigators proved Mafia don John Gotti guilty by delaying his notice search warrant, as the law permits it in criminal prosecutions: "Once again, these kinds of delayed-notice searches have been allowed by courts in criminal prosecutions for decades. They were used, for example, in building the case against Mafia don John Gotti."
To avoid informing the suspect of the existence of a criminal investigation, the government can request a court to consent to temporarily delay the notice search warrant. Now, law enforcement officials are able to use the same roving wiretaps or delayed notification search warrants to track terrorists. As Toni Locy shows in her USA Today article "Patriot Act Blurred in the Public Mind," judges and prosecutors strictly regulate those warrants and the law limits their use since they can only be delayed for "a reasonable period."
The Patriot Act updated our nation's counter-terrorism policy: it allows law enforcement to use the technical and judicial means against terrorists that have been already used against other high-profile criminals. It strengthens the federal tools available for conducting surveillance to investigate terrorist crimes. Before the Patriot Act, such surveillance could only be accomplished for ordinary crimes. In a Seattle Times article, "Patriot Act's Tools no Different Than Those Used to Fight Crime," John McKay points out that investigators proved Mafia don John Gotti guilty by delaying his notice search warrant, as the law permits it in criminal prosecutions: "Once again, these kinds of delayed-notice searches have been allowed by courts in criminal prosecutions for decades. They were used, for example, in building the case against Mafia don John Gotti."
To avoid informing the suspect of the existence of a criminal investigation, the government can request a court to consent to temporarily delay the notice search warrant. Now, law enforcement officials are able to use the same roving wiretaps or delayed notification search warrants to track terrorists. As Toni Locy shows in her USA Today article "Patriot Act Blurred in the Public Mind," judges and prosecutors strictly regulate those warrants and the law limits their use since they can only be delayed for "a reasonable period."