Increased Surveillance (cont)
While fears of another impending attack were entirely warranted, the changes the surveillance apparatus of the United States would see over the next few years had many civil liberties groups and citizens alike, complain about the unconstitutional breaches of privacy being committed in the name of national security.
It would only get more severe with time as by 2008, the FISA Amendments Act (or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008) would be passed. This law would give the NSA unprecedented and unchecked powers to eavesdrop on American phone calls, text messages, and emails under the guise of identifying potential terrorists. The abuse of these powers would be infamously exposed by computer intelligence consultant Edward Snowden in 2013.
