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Jessi Smith
English 1010-27
Jamie McBeth Smith
April 29, 2015
Drawing the Line between Safety and Security
On September 11, 2001 two planes crashed into the two Twin Towers. One crashed into
the Pentagon and one was taken down by passengers, crashing into a field in Pennsylvania. The
world was devastated, and Americas president took the time to morn with the country. After
further investigation, Americans knew that this was not an accident. It was an act of terrorism
on their homeland. However, we did not let them take us down. Three days later we were back
in the air. New York came together as a community and people flew in from all over the country
to support those who had fallen and those who were grieving. All in all we were still standing
on our feet. As much as we wanted revenge for all the people who lost their lives that day, we
also knew that we needed to protect ourselves from further attacks. On October 26, 2001,
George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT ACT. The Acts declares Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of
2001. Does any of the statement sound off a bell in your head? Like something just smells fishy
about it? Lets look closer at the phrase, by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism This statement has caused a lot of people in America to

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start losing their rights provided to them through The Bill of Rights, and then allowing the
government to loosen the system of checks and balances. Below I have shown many different
sources that will help prove my point that Americans have a loss of our checks and balances
because of the Patriot act.
Lucia Pizzo states, Most criticized was the acts section 215 of Title II, which gave the
FBI access to the personal records of US citizens, including medical, financial, telephone, and
library records (Pizzo). The government had started searching on everyone with suspicious
activity. They began tapping wires and listening to calls. Another intrusive provision of the
Patriot Act allowed government officials to search citizens homes and records secretly (Pizzo).
The government was and is doing all they can for our protection. Including listening to our
phone calls, invading our homes, and going through all of our back ground information. I say
this all in sarcasm. Not only are they doing this but all of it is in secrecy, but I have never felt
that the way my government protects me should be kept from my awareness.
Art Carden an assistant professor of economics at Samford University in Birmingham,
Alabama states, ...unnecessary and insulting rituals we go through when we board a plane
don't make us safer we're actually less safe because of the TSA. Driving to the airport is the
most dangerous part of air travel, but we don't think that much about driving risks because we
drive so much (Carden). In the beginning he is stating that it is Unnecessary and insulting
that the TSA is making passengers go through the extra security procedures, as they are doing it
for pretty much no reason. The drive to the airport is much more dangerous than the likely

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hood of a plane crashing due to terrorists. Some might argue, Without this system in place it
would not be as safe to fly as it is to drive in todays world. I would like to think about getting
into a carpool van every morning and having to go through a scanner; get a pat down; take off
my shoes, hat, belt, bag, ear rings, and other jewelry just to get into the van to ride with a full
load of other people to work. I am surely a safe passenger in that van but what if thieves decide
that it is their day to rob the van. Is there much I can do about it? This is how I view the security
check points at air ports. We are all those safe passengers out there and the terrorists are the
thieves. They disguise themselves, and find ways to manipulate the system and when they get
into that plane 40,000 feet in the air, we will only have a plane full of 100-200 innocent people
who are unarmed and completely helpless. Some things we have almost no control over, and
unfortunately this is one of them. John Pistole, administrator of TSA was asked the question,
With hardened cockpit doors, why not let passengers take small pocketknives on board, as you
proposed? He then answered, I don't see small knives as being the threat that non-metallic
IEDs are. And that's what I want our folks to focus on. But a number of constituent groups felt
very strongly, because of what happened with 9/11 The Chief and administrator even agrees
that small knives are not as big as a threat as some people make it out to be. The constituent
group vetoed allowing people to have small knives on board; although, the only people who
can get them on are people who sneak them on, and they have their own tricky way of doing
so, and if they are caught they will always find another way. So instead of making them illegal
to take on a plane, why not say everyone must have one that way when a terrorist, or any other

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extremist tries to take down a plane of 100 hundred people, he must face a plane full of
Americans ready to defend themselves with the same weapon as himself.
In the article Warrantless Surveillance to Continue without Patriot Act Extension, The
author makes a good point about our government losing its checks and balances systems. The
idea that the government can now monitor anything and everything legally without the
permission, or letting the people know that they are currently being investigated, can cause a
lot of issues in our rights system. Even if Congress were to decide that this law was
unconstitutional and try to remove it, their say would basically be waved because it was already
passed and signed by the president.
This leaves us in a sticky situation; the government has passed a law for our protection
against terrorists and yet they are mostly using this act to commence drug deals and further
catch criminals in the United States. The USA Patriots states, Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and OBSTRUCT TERRORISM Act
of 2001. The government is not following its own written documents, they are going behind
our backs, and there is now no way to escape this vicious cycle. In a way, have terrorists not
already won? A lot of Americans have lost their individual rights because of the terrorist acts
and that is what America is known for, its freedom to the people. Is the government really
helping by taking away our rights for our protection? Is the cost of our privacy great enough to
outweigh what the future may hold for additional security measures?

Worked Cited
"Warrantless surveillance to continue without Patriot Act extension." The New American 2014:
7. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
"TSA chief: 'Threats are real, stakes are high'." USA Today 2014: Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Pizzo, Lucia. "USA PATRIOT Act." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2015): Research Starters. Web. 12
Apr. 2015.
Carden, Art. "TSA rituals don't make us safer." USA Today 2014: Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2015