![]() ![]() These delayed notification search warrants have been used for decades, have proven crucial in drug and organized crime cases, and have been upheld by courts as fully constitutional. Notice is always provided, but the reasonable delay gives law enforcement time to identify the criminal's associates, eliminate immediate threats to our communities, and coordinate the arrests of multiple individuals without tipping them off beforehand. Therefore, federal courts in narrow circumstances long have allowed law enforcement to delay for a limited time when the subject is told that a judicially-approved search warrant has been executed. In some cases if criminals are tipped off too early to an investigation, they might flee, destroy evidence, intimidate or kill witnesses, cut off contact with associates, or take other action to evade arrest. Allows law enforcement to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists.Because international terrorists are sophisticated and trained to thwart surveillance by rapidly changing locations and communication devices such as cell phones, the Act authorized agents to seek court permission to use the same techniques in national security investigations to track terrorists. A roving wiretap can be authorized by a federal judge to apply to a particular suspect, rather than a particular phone or communications device. For years, law enforcement has been able to use "roving wiretaps" to investigate ordinary crimes, including drug offenses and racketeering. Allows federal agents to follow sophisticated terrorists trained to evade detection.The Act enabled investigators to gather information when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes, including: chemical-weapons offenses, the use of weapons of mass destruction, killing Americans abroad, and terrorism financing. Agents also could obtain wiretaps to investigate some, but not all, of the crimes that terrorists often commit. ![]() Before the Patriot Act, courts could permit law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance to investigate many ordinary, non-terrorism crimes, such as drug crimes, mail fraud, and passport fraud. Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror.To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the mob should be good for terrorists." (Cong. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during the floor debate about the Act, "the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers, and have been reviewed and approved by the courts. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. The Act Improves Our Counter-Terrorism Efforts in Several Significant Ways:ġ. (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism)Ĭongress enacted the Patriot Act by overwhelming, bipartisan margins, arming law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism: The USA Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1, and 357-66 in the House, with the support of members from across the political spectrum. ![]() The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty ![]()
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