Patriot Act

THE USA PATRIOT ACT

INTRODUCTION
Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act in response to the terrorists’ attacks of September 11, 2001. The Act gives federal officials greater authority to track and intercept communications, both for law enforcement and foreign intelligence gathering purposes. It vests the Secretary of the Treasury with regulatory powers to combat corruption of U. S. financial institutions for foreign money laundering purposes. It seeks to further close our borders to foreign terrorists and to detain and remove those within our borders. It creates new crimes, new penalties, and new procedural efficiencies for use against domestic and international terrorists. Although it is not without safeguards, critics contend some of its provisions go too far. Although it grants many of the enhancements sought by the Department of Justice, others are concerned that it does not go far enough.

Criminal Investigations:
Tracking and Gathering Communications
Federal communications privacy law features a three-tiered system. Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 supplies the first level. It prohibits electronic eavesdropping on telephone conversations, face-to-face conversations, or computer and other forms of electronic communications in most instances. However, it does give authorities a narrowly defined process for electronic surveillance to be used as a last resort in serious criminal cases.

The next tier of privacy protection covers telephone records, e-mail held in third party storage, and the like. Here, the law permits law enforcement access, ordinarily pursuant to a warrant or court order or under a subpoena in some cases, but in connection with any criminal investigation and without the extraordinary levels of approval or constraint that mark a Title III interception.

Least demanding and perhaps least intrusive of all is the procedure that governs court orders approving the government's use of trap and trace devices and pen registers, a kind of secret “caller ID.”, which identify the source and destination of calls made to and from a particular telephone.

Foreign Intelligence Investigations
The Act eases some of the restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States, and affords the U. S. intelligence community greater access to information unearthed during a criminal investigation, but it also establishes and expands safeguards against official abuse.

Money Laundering
In federal law, money laundering is the flow of cash or other valuables derived from, or intended to facilitate, the commission of a criminal offense. It is the movement of the fruits and instruments of crime. Federal authorities attack money laundering through regulations, criminal sanctions, and forfeiture. The Act bolsters federal efforts in each area.

Regulation: The Act expands the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to regulate the activities of U.S. financial institutions, particularly their relations with foreign individuals and entities.

Crimes: The Act contains a number of new money laundering crimes, as well as amendments and increased penalties for earlier crimes.

Forfeiture: The Act creates two types of forfeitures and modifies several confiscation-related procedures. It allows confiscation of all of the property of any individual or entity that participates in or plans an act of domestic or international terrorism; it also permits confiscation of any property derived from or used to facilitate domestic or international terrorism. The Constitution's due process, double jeopardy, and ex post facto clauses may limit the anticipated breath of these provisions.

Alien Terrorists and Victims
The Act contains a number of provisions designed to prevent alien terrorists from entering the United States, particularly from Canada; to enable authorities to detain and deport alien terrorists and those who support them; and to provide humanitarian immigration relief for foreign victims of the attacks on September 11.

Other Crimes, Penalties, and Procedures
New crimes: The act creates new federal crimes for terrorist attacks on mass transportation facilities, for biological weapons offenses, for harboring terrorists, for affording terrorists material support, for misconduct associated with money laundering already mentioned, for conducting the affairs of an enterprise that affects interstate of foreign commerce through the patterned commission of terrorist offenses, and for fraudulent charitable solicitation.

New Penalties: The act increases the penalties for acts of terrorism and for crimes that terrorists might commit. More specifically, it establishes an alternative maximum penalty for acts of terrorism, raises the penalties for conspiracy to commit certain terrorist offenses, envisions and sentencing some terrorists to life-long parole, and increases the penalties for counterfeiting, cyber crime and charity fraud.