IntroductionThe USA Patriot Act emerged after 9/11. The law remains in effect today with some slight modifications. In contrast, FISA has been used since the mid-1970s. Both laws are highly controversial and foreign to the average citizen. National security always requires a balance between freedom and security. As the saying goes, freedom is not free. This article will describe the main elements and/or components of the USA Patriot Act and FISA and research how the media conveyed the main messages and elements of both acts. We will then discuss media representation and the general public's perception of these acts. The paper will conclude with a discussion of whether I believe the nation is safer with these acts in place. The USA Patriot Act The law unifying and strengthening America by providing the appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism of 2001, also known as the United States Patriot Act. Patriot Act of 2001, signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. This law is a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Not without controversy, the law authorized surveillance of citizens and non-citizens to detect and prevent terrorist activity within the borders of the United States. He extended to the Department of Justice the powers deemed necessary to combat what “did not exist before.” The presence of terrorists within national borders and the need to apprehend and prosecute them, if possible before rather than after they act” (Rouse, 2010). The broad scope of the law allowed for the interception of messages, tapping of telephone lines, or any form of communication deemed relevant in the ongoing fight against terrorist activity in the United States. .n Surveillance Intelligence Act. Retrieved from https://ssd.eff.org/foreign/fisaReporters. (nd). Introduction - Criminal procedure. Retrieved from http://www.rcfp.org/first-amendment-handbook/introduction-criminal-proceedingsReporters Committee. (2013). Reporters Committee and media challenge FISA court ruling on right to challenge secrecy. Retrieved from http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-committee-media-organizations-challenge-fisa-court-ruling-right-challenge-secrecy Rouse, M. (2010). Patriot Law. Retrieved from http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/definition/Patriot-ActZuckerman, J., Bucci, S., and Carafano, J. (2014). 60 Terrorist Plots Since 9/11: Continuing Lessons in Countering Domestic Terrorism. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/07/60-terrorist-plots-since-911-continued-lessons-in-domestic-counterterrorism