One of the more controversial provisions of the Patriot Act was to
broaden the “sneak-and-peek” power for federal law enforcement
officials. The provision allows investigators to conduct searches
without informing the target of the search. We were assured at the time
that this was an essential law enforcement tool that would be used only
to protect the country from terrorism. Supporters argued that it was
critical that investigators be allowed to look into the lives and
finances of suspected terrorists without tipping off those terrorists to
the fact that they were under investigation.
Civil libertarian critics warned that the federal government already had this power
for national security investigations. The Patriot Act provision was far
too broad and would almost certainly become a common tactic in cases
that have nothing to do with national security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/10/29/surprise-controversial-patriot-act-power-now-overwhelmingly-used-in-drug-investigations/
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