Sep.11 attack and the Patriot Act

What about the shift in US foreign policy following right after 9/11? True, there was this dramatic shift in US foreign policy, the ‘Patriot Act’, for instance. The US needed to intensify the legislative powers in order to curb civil liberties of those accused of helping America’s enemies abroad.

What is the USA Patriot Act? The congress passed the USA Patriot bill on October 26, 45days after September 11. That day, president George W. Bush signed the law and as a result the Act came into effect. Supporters said they should give power to the government to prevent terror. However objectors insisted the Act threatened individual rights and freedom. The Act allowed the secret service and some criminal investigation squads to investigate people or organizations that were suspected of terror without any judicial control. In other words, government could search suspects’ houses or computers clandestinely and it also could inquire of suspects’ using record at libraries, bookstores, hospitals and banks. Moreover terror suspects could be detained for an indefinite period. Wiretapping of telephone and e-mail was allowed without a warrant through this Act.

Such need prompted the signing into law and now the US extended defense beyond American borders after 9/11. Heightened sensitivity increased its surveillance on non-Americans. The governmental powers to restrain citizens, and freeze financial assets to those suspected of aiding terrorism were obvious measures used by the Bush administration. However, this would not be some phenomenon that had never happened in its history. Although the mood created due to the 9/11 was fearful enough, such a mood has definitely happened in American history. The captivity of Japanese Americans during World War II, the concentrated effort to gain accord from the radicals regarding American participation in World War I, and the financial and military aid in the Vietnam and Korean Civil war during the time of Cold War can all be the precedents of the Patriot Act.

Work cited

“2001 George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act.” Http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-w-bush-signs-the-patriot-act. ND. Nov.9 2017

McKay, David.  “American Politics and Society.”  WileyBlackwell, p. 249. Sep.18 1997. Paperback. Nov.9 2017