Issue date: 2/5/04 Section: Opinion

By Rylie Deyoe

For those Americans willing to relinquish more authority to the U.S. government, exchange individual freedom for security and cast aside all rights to personal privacy, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride, because that's where this country may be heading. The Patriot Act is currently up for renewal.

The Patriot Act essentially strengthens the powers of U.S. intelligence agencies, and it actively does so in many ways, not all of which are bad.

For example, the act facilitates information-sharing between intelligence agencies, renders harboring of terrorists and affording them material support a criminal offense and permits nationwide execution of warrants in terrorist cases.

Unfortunately, these positive elements are overshadowed by the act's many glaring sections that, if abused, have the potential to adversely affect U.S. citizens. Such elements, stated by Gerald Lefcourt in The New York Law Journal, include: secret searches without direct notification to the individual or delayed notice, the seizure of practically all personal documents, the examination of financial records without a court order, the allowance of authorities to obtain permission from a secret court to listen to individuals' conversations providing information that will never be known to anyone, and enabling access to stored e-mail and other communication records, including stored voice messages.

Now, surely one must think, "What happened to probable cause when executing search warrents?" According to the Department of Justice, the Patriot Act lowered the standard for such intrusions, changing the requirement for executing search warrants in these cases from terrorism being the "sole purpose" to it being only a "significant purpose." So what constitutes a significant purpose to suspect someone of terrorism? That's a good question, and it's a question the Patriot Act doesn't adequately address. It simply provides a lengthy list, containing many gray areas, of what merits the classification of a terrorist act. Discretion is apparently left up to secret courts and intelligence agencies.

But everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, as the government would never attempt to use this act for any reason but preventing terrorism, right? Not exactly.

According to The Washington Times, the Department of Justice revealed that it obtained 113 secret search authorizations throughout the year following 9-11 compared to the 47 secret searches authorized in the 23 years before the attack. Even more disturbing, The New York Times reported that the Department of Justice conducted a study that found the act is regularly being used in non-terrorist related activities.

Continued...

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