Patriot, Privacy, and Politics

Abstract

Much of the controversy about terrorist enforcement in the early stages focused on USA PATRIOT for political reasons. PATRIOT was almost a smokescreen because the vast bulk of it would be subject to only mild debate, were it not that the administration made it the focal point of its domestic “war on terror,” thus making it also the lightning rod for critics. In a sense, PATRIOT came to stand for other policies such as military detention and domestic wiretapping. There are many elements in approaches to terrorism that need to be addressed, but this article merely explores which issues are about the law and which are issues of enforcement by focusing on USA PATRIOT.

Keywords: terrorism, PATRIOT

JEL Classification: K14, K33