HOMELAND SECURITY ACT

Homeland Security Act

Homeland Security Act

Introduction

There are also a lot of “misconceptions about the PATRIOT Act: it will sunset in a few years, the granted only limited authorities to federal agencies, it deals only with aliens or foreign nationals, and it is restrictive in length and scope. That is not so. The situation is far worse. Only very selected portions of the Act will sunset in 2005, the authorities it grants are massive, its reach conceivably can include every American, and it contains extremely extensive and detailed provisions.

Homeland Security Act

Of course, since September 11 there have been many other related developments: the military tribunals, the Office of Homeland Security, bioterrorism legislation, the new wave of aviation security, the globalization of the "war on terrorism," dramatic increases in surveillance of the public, skyrocketing military spending, the war in Afghanistan, and impending war with Iraq. Discussion of those would take us too far a field for present purposes since these developments were there parallel to but do not arise directly from the PATRIOT Act. That does not leave us wanting. There is still plenty to review. The Act is among the most wide-ranging laws passed by Congress in recent memory, bringing new federal offices into being, creating new crimes, amending--in many cases substantially--at least 12 federal statutes, mandating dozens of new reports and regulations from agencies in four Cabinet Departments, and directly appropriating $2.6 billion.”_

Furthermore, the Act “provides specifically that nothing in the Act creates any new requirements for technical assistance, such as design mandates. Therefore, the right, if any, of the government to require use of design mandates such as "Carnivore" technology or other technical assistance by service providers is not affected or augmented by the Patriot Act”_. Also, in several important areas, the Act expands service provider protections (including immunities and good faith defenses) for complying with new or existing surveillance authority, as is the case in FISA wiretaps and disclosures of records. The Act also creates expanded ability for the government to conduct wiretaps, at the request of service providers, of hackers and other "trespassers" on service provider networks”. Also, the Act “amends and limits the Cable Act to make it clear that companies offering cable-based Internet or telephone service will be subject to the requirements of the Cable Act to notify subscribers of government surveillance requests only where detailed cable viewing information is being sought. In all other instances, cable operators offering these services can respond to a government surveillance request under ECPA, which does not require service providers to notify subscribers of requests”.

The events of September 11 have prompted vastly heightened scrutiny of many aspects of government functioning, as major wars and national cataclysms have done in the past. Few aspects, perhaps, have received more attention than the question of whether government in general, and the federal government in particular, has the right organizational structure to meet the requirements for homeland security. An initial determination was made by the president that sufficient organization was ...