USA Patriot Act

The USA PATRIOT Act (USAPA) is the shorthand term for Public Law 107-56, federal legislation that is also known by its complete name, the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. This legislation was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, less than two months after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed an initial version days after September 11, 2001. The 342-page bill was meant, according to the legislation, to provide the president and DOJ with the “tools and resources necessary to disrupt, weaken, thwart, and eliminate the infrastructure of terrorist organizations, to prevent or thwart terrorist attacks, and to punish perpetrators of terrorist acts.”

The original proposal, crafted by DOJ with representatives of a number of federal agencies, sought to expand the investigative and surveillance techniques available to law enforcement. It was presented to the House Judiciary Committee by Attorney General John Ashcroft on September 24, 2001, and to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the next day. The Senate approved its version, Senate Bill 1510, on October 11, 2001, and the House of Representatives approved H.R. 2975 two days later after incorporating pending money laundering provisions. On October 25, 2001, the final version[Page 887] of the act, which incorporated provisions of the pending Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, was passed by Congress and became law the next day.

The USAPA consists of 10 separate sections, each of which addresses a distinct topic, including domestic security, surveillance procedures, money laundering and currency crimes, border protection, information sharing, and intelligence collection, as well as providing funding for victims of terrorism, first responders, and other public safety officers; training for certain agencies; limiting hazardous materials licenses; and establishing a grant program for domestic preparedness support. Rather than setting out a comprehensive statement of applicable law, the USAPA amended a number of existing federal laws; thus its terms are found throughout the United States Code. The laws amended include those that deal with federal crimes, immigration and naturalization, banks and banking, money and finance, educational institutions, public health and welfare, communications, transportation, war, national defense and espionage—including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—and provisions relating to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The wide-ranging application of the USAPA to federal law reflects the broad range of topics that are addressed under the rubric of a response to terrorism. This act has not been the only federal legislative response to modern terrorism; rather, it joins the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, and their amendments, which also contain provisions directed to both domestic and international terrorism.