I would go a step further.
I suspect the REAL PURPOSE of the Patriot Act is not so much to fight foreign terrorists -- but to make it easier for the powers that be to deal with inevitable resistance of many citizens to the destruction of what is left of the American Republic and its replacement by an empire of, by, and for the rich and especially the ultra rich.
“The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice.” Mahatma Gandhi