NEW YORK (AP) -- Declaring that personal security is as important as national security, a judge Wednesday blocked the government from conducting secret, unchallengeable searches of Internet and telephone records as part of its fight against terrorism.
Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act (the Act) in response to the terrorists’attacks of September 11, 2001. The Act gives federal officials greater authority to trackand intercept communications, both for law enforcement and foreign intelligencegathering purposes. It vests the Secretary of the Treasury with regulatory powers tocombat corruption of U.S. financial institutions for foreign money laundering purposes.It seeks to further close our borders to foreign terrorists and to detain and remove thosewithin our borders. It creates new crimes, new penalties, and new proceduralefficiencies for use against domestic and international terrorists. Although it is notwithout safeguards, critics contend some of its provisions go too far. Although it grantsmany of the enhancements sought by the Department of Justice, others are concernedthat it does not go far enough.
