Terror Arrests a Reminder of Patriot Act’s Importance

By: Ernest Istook

Federal agents have done something very good. They’ve thwarted three terrorist bombing plots in one week.

Yet the tools used to thwart plots that might have killed thousands may be taken away by Congress. The arrests came just as congressional committees are debating whether to renew the Patriot Act, which expanded America’s ability to detect and deter domestic terrorism.

It’s impossible to overstate the lives evidently saved by the FBI’s recent arrests in New York City, Dallas, and Springfield, Ill. The events re-affirmed the reality of danger from radical Islamic jihadists just as some Americans were de-emphasizing them. ....