There are those Bush supporters who would have us believe that the USA PATRIOT Act is neither dangerous nor has it been fundamentally abused. Well, how about them apples?
A couple's ill-concealed sexual play aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles got them charged with violating the Patriot Act, intended for terrorist acts, and could land them in jail for 20 years.
As James Joyner rightfully points out, in most situations the average stewardess is basically a glorified cocktail waitress, and the last thing we need is to be getting them seriously involved in security matters. I can't help but wonder if it would not be more beneficial for security and order for there to be a larger Air Marshal program, one that could guarantee marshals on every major commercial flight, so that a trained law enforcement officer could dispassionately and professionally handle these situations. Odds are that this would not have even happened if the guy who asked them to stop flashed an Air Marshal badge at them instead of an airline insignia. Besides, the clear benefit of having Air Marshals on every major flight would be to raise the basic risk assumption for any terrorist or hijacker trying to hit an American airline.
The short term solution is clearly to get rid of the USA PATRIOT Act or at least to very, very clearly definie terrorist and to define all investigative powers to be only applicable to a specific terrorist act, not any other criminal activity that may have been committed, even if by the terrorist. The reason for that is simple. Terrorists commit lots of crimes, and terrorism comes in a myriad number of flavors. You can find them in every criminal category, so naturally every category of crime is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act unless things are changed soon.
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