( CNN ) -- Ten years ago this month , I stood on the U.S. Senate floor as our nation 's leaders debated the first major anti-terrorism legislation after the tragic attacks of September 11 . This legislation , which quickly passed Congress and became law , would allow the federal government , for the first time , to easily spy and collect data on innocent Americans . This law , the poorly named USA Patriot Act , and subsequent expansions of federal law enforcement power , would erode America 's freedoms and waste precious resources . Patriotism is about defending America 's moral character and celebrating what makes this country great . Unfortunately , this bad law did the exact opposite . I was an adviser to Sen. Russ Feingold , D-Wisconsin , the only senator who voted against that law . Fear and anxiety was abundant in the halls of Congress in those early days and weeks , and understandably so . My colleagues and I had experienced two terror attacks in one month -- first the September 11 attacks and then the anthrax mailings that forced many Senate employees , including myself , to take potent medication for weeks and closed an entire Senate office building for three months while it was fumigated . Washington would be on edge for months to come . I know what it feels like to be worried about safety . But I also know that we lose when our nation changes its fundamental character , when neighbors no longer trust neighbors and when government wastes precious resources . That is why I want my government targeting actual threats , not innocent Americans . During the last decade , Muslim Advocates has found the FBI has increasingly focused its powers on law-abiding citizens , not based on criminal behavior , but based on race , ethnicity and religious or political beliefs . Our report , Losing Liberty : The State of Freedom Ten Years After the Patriot Act '' found , and the ACLU has also reported , that the FBI targeted entire communities , specifically Muslims , Arabs , South Asians and Middle Easterners , sowing fear and mistrust among all Americans . So where are we 10 years later ? Today , the FBI can show up at your work , unannounced , to interrogate you about an article on political events you post on Facebook , or seize information about your phone calls , e-mails , internet activity and medical and banking records -- all without a shred of evidence that you 've engaged in criminal activity . Government agents can stop and interrogate you at the border as you seek to re-enter the United States , asking questions like `` Do you pray ? '' `` What mosque do you attend ? '' or `` Why did you convert ? '' Donating $ 100 to a charity to help the needy can lead to questions simply because it is a Muslim-run charity . Today , it is difficult to find an American Muslim who has not had one of these encounters with law enforcement , or knows someone who has . But it 's not just the Muslim community . Journalists , professors , and anti-war activists have been targeted for surveillance , questioning and sometimes investigations by law enforcement based on their speech or political beliefs and activities . Little is publicly known about the full scope of the FBI 's activities . Much of it is shrouded in secrecy . But we do know that , according to one former senior FBI counterterrorism official , the FBI conducted nearly 500,000 interviews of Muslim and Arab males from 2001-2005 , and not a single one of those interviews led to information that would have allowed the government to detect or prevent the 9/11 attacks . Think about that : For every hour an agent spent talking to someone who had nothing to do with terrorism , that was one hour less spent tracking down a real threat , in this case at least 500,000 hours in four years alone not spent on actual criminals . We also know that the FBI has trained its agents that growing a beard , frequently attending a mosque or wearing traditional Muslim attire reveal extremism . This ignores that the 19 hijackers never grew beards or wore traditional Muslim attire while in the United States and that certain individuals , such as Faisal Shahzad and Colleen LaRose , never frequented a mosque . The FBI should be focused on evidence of criminal activity , not targeting law-abiding Americans . This is not the America our founders envisioned , and certainly not the beacon of liberty our nation aspires to be . America is at its best when we overcome fear and face our challenges together as one people , one nation . On this 10-year anniversary of the Patriot Act , it is time for Congress to act with courage . Congress should amend the law to require law enforcement to focus on actual threats , and should conduct a full public accounting of the use of the Patriot Act and all federal surveillance powers that target Americans based on their race , faith or political ideology . The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Farhana Khera .
Farhana Khera : Patriot Act allows federal government to spy on innocent Americans . For 10 years , she says , FBI has targeted citizens based on race , faith , and politics . Khera : The Patriot Act is the most extreme example of what can happen when you give too much power to an unaccountable bureaucracy. Act erodes freedoms , sows fear and mistrust , and needs to be changed , she says .