Explaining the U.S.A. Patriot Act

Major provisions of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, passed in October 2001, include:

-- Relaxed restrictions on information sharing between U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officers about suspected terrorists. -- Makes it illegal to knowingly harbor a terrorist.

-- Authorization of "roving wiretaps," so that law enforcement officials can get court orders to wiretap any phone a suspected terrorist would use. The provision was needed, advocates said, with the advent of cellular and disposable phones.

-- Allowing the federal government to detain non-U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism for up to seven days without specific charges. The administration originally wanted to hold them indefinitely.

-- Allowing law enforcement officials greater subpoena power for e-mail records of terrorist suspects.

-- Tripling the number of Border Patrol, Customs Service Inspectors and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors at the northern border of the United States, and providing $100 million to improve technology and equipment on the U.S. border with Canada.

-- Expanding measures against money laundering by requiring additional record keeping and reports for certain transactions and requiring identification of account holders.

-- Eliminating the statute of limitations for prosecuting the most egregious terrorist acts, but maintaining the statute of limitation on most crimes at five to eight years.