The Patriot Act, Tittle II, Section 203 Term Paper

The Patriot Act, Tittle II, Section 203 - Term Paper Example These improvements on the Title II of the Patriot Act turned out to be key elements of national security investigations. Therefore, this paper mainly focuses on the positive impacts of the Patriot Act in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking. The Patriot Act, Title II, Section 203 Introduction Before the Patriot Act came into place, the U.S. intelligence authorities had some restrictions while conducting their investigations. Since its inception, the US has managed to prevent serious attacks such as the 9/11 attack on the American homeland. It is worth mentioning that the Patriot Act has had a lot of benefits that enhance the ability of US authorities to investigate, prevent, and prosecute terrorists. The Act came in place barely 43 days after the 9/11 attack so as to introduce policies that will help in fighting terrorism. After the attacks, the US citizens felt that they were vulnerable for more attacks, thus the need by the government to undertake quick measures (Scheppler, 2005 ). On the other hand, the US government felt that it was necessary to have detailed information on its own citizens and foreign visitors. Indeed, many were of the opinion that if the government had taken stringent measures, the 9/11 attacks would have been prevented. This resulted to the passage of the Patriot Act (Scheppler, 2005). The U.S.A. ... Provisions within the Patriot Act streamlined the way to conduct investigations on various crimes differently from the traditional way (Painter, 2011). The patriot Act introduced a number of measures that would help in fighting terrorism, as well as other forms of crimes. Some of the prescribed measures expired and were never renewed, but a majority of the prescribed measures became permanent. To date, serious crimes in the US are handled using guidelines provided in the Patriot Act. Furthermore, some provisions have been amended to strengthen them further. Since the passage of the Act, there have been remarkable improvements in dealing with serious crimes (Painter, 2011). Measures within the patriot Act The patriot Act enables the US intelligence authorities to apply surveillance tools to investigate on terrorism and drug trafficking. Before the Act came into place, intelligence authorities required court permits in order to use electronic surveillance tools for investigations. In a ddition, intelligence authorities could not use wiretaps fully in conducting certain investigations without court permits. Enactment of the patriot Act enabled intelligence authorities to acquire information on a wide range of acts of terror such as chemical weapons, financing terrorism, and presence of weapons of mass destruction (Doyle, 2002). The passage of the patriot Act allowed federal agents to make follow ups on highly organized terrorists who evade detection. For a long period, federal agents have applied the use of roving wiretaps in conducting investigations on ordinary crimes. The use of wiretaps requires authorization from federal judges in order to apply them in investigations.