Administrative Effectiveness and Personal Liberty

Описание: It is increasingly possible that as government strengthens it acquires additional potential for diluting individual liberties. This does not necessarily occur from deliberate decisions in the highest councils of government. It can result simply from overzealous implementation of perceived mandates by an individual agency or bureaucrat.

The USA PATRIOT Act loosens the procedures and rules of evidence for surveillance, investigation, spying, and jailing of terrorist suspects. President Bush signed the act into law on October 26, 2001, just five weeks after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. It is a large, complex, and hastily drafted law that was passed by Congress over the objections of civil liberties groups on both ends of the political spectrum.

The act gives the executive branch extensive powers and a wider range of tools to limit freedoms of speech, privacy, and due process. The essential point is that as government grows stronger the potential for infringement on individual rights increases. This causes operating problems for those in public administration but, because of the basic values at issue, all of society is ultimately involved. Nonetheless, Congress reauthorized the Act in 2011 amid renewed concerns for homeland security.