Patriot Act: The legislation introduced following 9/11

The terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001 transformed the way the United States approached national security almost overnight. The life US citizens were familiar with was about to change irrevocably. Lawmakers had to find ways to prevent further attacks.

In the weeks that followed, there was immense pressure to find ways of preventing another attack. The result was the USA Patriot Act. A huge piece of legislation that expanded the powers available to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Crime+Investigation examines how a sweeping piece of legislation, rushed through Congress in 45 days, went on to reshape American surveillance law – and spark one of the biggest privacy controversies of the 21st century.

What does the Patriot Act stand for?

Its full name, the Patriot Act, was the ‘Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush on 26th October 2001, just 45 days after 9/11.

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The legislation was designed to give authorities more tools to detect terrorism, disrupt potential attacks and follow the money behind terrorist organisations. But from the beginning, there were concerns about just how far those powers should reach.

An expedited act

The act was introduced with immediate effect. Congress wasted no time in getting something in place to help secure the country. By 23rd October, the House had passed the final bill. The Senate followed two days later, voting 98 to one. President Bush signed it into law on 26th October.

There was a clear sense of urgency. The government wanted investigators to be able to act faster and share information more easily. One of the key criticisms of the pre-9/11 system was that intelligence and law enforcement agencies did not always communicate effectively.

The Patriot Act was intended to address some of those barriers.

It gave the FBI and other agencies additional powers to investigate suspected terrorists, made certain forms of surveillance easier to obtain and improved information sharing between government bodies. It also strengthened measures designed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

What did the Patriot Act do?

The Patriot Act was not one single measure. It was a wide-ranging law covering surveillance, financial investigations, immigration and criminal enforcement. For financial institutions, it introduced or strengthened requirements designed to make it harder for terrorists and criminal organisations to move money anonymously.

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These included provisions requiring banks and other financial businesses to establish stronger anti-money-laundering programmes and report suspicious activity.

That financial element was important. Terrorist attacks require money, and following the finance could potentially help investigators identify networks before they were able to act.

Surveillance powers were also expanded. Investigators were given additional tools to obtain and monitor communications during terrorism investigations. However, one controversial provision allowed authorities to seek certain business records through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The thinking was straightforward. If investigators had access to more information about potential terrorist activity, they would have a better chance of stopping it.

The surveillance controversy

However, the act itself was designed to provide the country with greater security measures. There was some controversy surrounding some of the methods used.

Critics argued that some of its provisions granted the government excessive surveillance powers and reduced traditional safeguards protecting people's privacy. Section 215 became particularly contentious.

Although the provision concerned access to business records, the government later interpreted it as allowing the bulk collection of telephone metadata. This included information such as the numbers involved in calls, dates, times and durations.

In 2013, documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the scale of the government's telephone metadata programme. The disclosures showed that Section 215 had been used to support the bulk collection of Americans' phone records. The revelations reignited the debate over whether powers introduced to combat terrorism had been taken too far.

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What happened to the Patriot Act?

At present, the broader legacy of the Patriot Act persists, although some provisions of the original legislation have now expired. Others have been amended and replaced over time.

For example, in 2015, Congress passed the USA FREEDOM Act, which ended the NSA's bulk collection of telephone metadata under Section 215 and introduced a more targeted system.

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