Vocabulary: USA Patriot Act: an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W.

Bush on October 26, 2001. The act was made in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11th. The purpose of the act was to monitor all aspects of communication in order to be able to predict future attacks on our nation. Civil Liberties: civil rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights. Some may argue that these rights were infringed by the creation of the Patriot Act. Bush Administration: The presidential group responsible for the creation of the Patriot Act after the attacks on September 11th. Summary: From Systems Under Stress by Donald Kettl highlights the reasons and process behind the creation of the USA Patriot Act. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 our government took a good look at the reasons behind why this event was able to occur. We found that there were many flaws in the way our internal surveillance was being handled. Many were entering our county under invalid or expired visas. Our government at the time was oblivious to this fraud which was allowing aliens to enter our country under false pretenses. The argument highlighted in this article was whether the Patriot Act was beneficial to our country, and also whether it infringed too harshly on our civil liberties as citizens. Evaluation: Before the terrorist attacks on 9/11 there was a major flaw in our countrys surveillance. As I stated in the summary above, many were entering the country with invalid visas intending on participating in terrorist attacks on our country. Because we were unable to predict what was about to happen, the most devastating terrorist attack on our country was able to occur. In response to this terrible event, the Bush Administration created an act to halt future terrorist attacks on America. The USA Patriot Act now allows the government to hack in to almost all aspects of communication. This gives them the ability to detect when terrorist activity could be occurring, giving them a step ahead in order to stop/prepare. Some may argue that this Patriot Act infringes too harshly on our Civil Liberties as citizens, but I have to politely disagree. If this act was never passed, there is an overwhelming chance that an abundance of terrorist activity could be occurring under the radar of our government. To those who argue that our rights are being compromised by this act I say this, the safety of our country as a whole depends on the governments ability to regulate all levels of our communication. Our right to privacy should and will be completely overshadowed by the countrys effort to protect us from any further terrorist attacks. The underpinnings of the Patriot Act state how and why they have the right to control all phone lines, email, and internet use. Our country was vulnerable before this act was put in place, which is why September 11th was able to occur. In conclusion, I feel that if necessary the government has full right to infringe on our right to privacy in the case of protecting our country against danger.