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Question:
Should the United States have the right to invade people's privacy for "national security" purposes?

Staff and Agencies. “FBI abused PATRIOT Act powers, audit finds.” The Guardian 9 March
2007. 9 March 2007.
This article is about the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 or the USA PATRIOT Act. Specifically, it is about the audit that was conducted of the FBI in 2007 to investigate if their usage of the Act was legitimate and legal. They found over 1000 times when the FBI overstepped their boundaries outlined in the USA PATRIOT Act. For example, the justice department found that the FBI not only overstepped the boundaries outlined in the PATRIOT Act, they sometimes obtained information, such as phone calls, when it wasn’t necessary. Also, the article points out that the FBI uses the PATRIOT Act as an excuse to send out more national security letters: they sent out 8,500; 39,000; 56,000; 47,000 in 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2005 respectively. These letters have been controvertible since 2001 because of their “loose” use.

Lichtblau, Eric. “U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes From Drugs to Swindling.” 28 Sept
2003.
Eric Lichtblau has been a reporter the majority of his life, most recently the LA Times and the NY Times, and at both agencies he covered the Justice Department. He won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Also, he is the author of the book, Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice. This article was again about the USA PATRIOT Act, and once again how it was being used by the government. The United States has been using their USA PATRIOT Act, which is meant to prevent acts of terrorism. However, they have begun to use it to convict everyday criminals, from “Drugs to Swindling,” as the title clearly states. The Justice Department said in an interview that they were “simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals -- terrorists or otherwise.” However, many Americans believe that this is another Bush-Cheney plan to expand the government’s jurisdiction.