Civil Liberties Essay -- Government Politics USA Essays

Civil LibertiesAfter September 11, 2001, in the joined States of America, many a(prenominal) aspects of our daily lives arrive at changed. ane notable change has been the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Many bills are being drafted to ensure the safeguard of the United States. We, as Americans, are going to have to sacrifice many of our polished liberties due to this tragic event. There are many steady-going reasons why these bills are being drafted, but there are withal negative effects such as the loss of civil rights. One particular bill being drafted is the USA nationalist Act. The USA PATRIOT Act puts the CIA back in the business of spying on Americans. It permits a vast array of information gathering on U.S. citizens from financial trans formions, sh accept records, Internet activity, telephone conversations, information gleaned from grand jury proceedings and vicious investigations to be shared with the CIA (and other non-law enforcement officials) e ven if it pertains to Americans. Most importantly, the information would be shared without a court order.While there is a impoverishment to shut down the financial resources used to further acts of terrorism, this legislation goes beyond its stated goal of combating international terrorism and instead reaches into innocent customers ad hominem financial transactions. If the USA PATRIOT Act becomes a law, financial institutions would observe daily financial transactions even more closely and be required to share information with other national agencies, including foreign intuition agencies such as the CIA. Section 358 requires that, in addition to law enforcement, erudition agencies would also receive suspicious activity reports. These reports are usually nigh wholly domestic transactions of people in the United States, and do not relate to foreign intelligence information. In addition, Section 358 would allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to get easy access to ind ividual extension reports in secret. There would be no judicial review and no notice to the person to whom the records relate. Through these provisions, the CIA would be put back in the business of spying on Americans, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies would have a range of personal financial information without ever showing veracious cause as to why such information is relevant to a particular investigation. Since September 11, Federal, state, and... ... at odds. Law enforcement authorities already have great leeway below current law to investigate suspects in terrorist attacks including broad authority to monitor telephone and Internet communications. In fact, under current law, judges have rejected only three federal or state criminal wiretap requests in the last decade. This is a country that understands that people have fundamental God-given rights and liberties and our government is constituted to value those rights. We cannot in our efforts to bring justice diminish those liberties, said Sen. George Allen, R-Va., in a statement responding to the terrorist attacks. Clearly this is not a simple, normal criminal case. This is an act of war, and those rules of warfare may apply. But here at home and domestically, we penury to make sure that were not tempted to abrogate any civil rights such as habeas corpus, protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, the freedom of expression and peaceable assembly, or freedom of religion.Sources Cited1. www.aclu.org, The American Civil Liberties Union, 20012. www.corpwatch.org, CorpWatch, 2001 3. www.msnbc.com, MSNBC Terms and Conditions, 2001