A sneak and peek search warrant (also called a covert entry search warrant or a surreptitious entry search warrant) is a search warrant

Search warrant

A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....

 authorizing the law enforcement officers executing it to effect physical entry into private premises

Premises

Premises are land and buildings together considered as a property. This usage arose from property owners finding the word in their title deeds, where it originally correctly meant "the aforementioned; what this document is about", from Latin prae-missus = "placed before".In this sense, the word is...

 without the owner’s or the occupant’s permission or knowledge and to clandestinely search the premises; usually, such entry requires a stealthy breaking and entering

Burglary

Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...

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Law enforcement officers are prohibited from seizing any property from the premises. Sneak and peek warrants are especially beneficial to illegal drug manufacturing investigations because they allow investigative teams to search the premises for chemicals and drug paraphernalia

Drug paraphernalia

Drug paraphernalia is a term used, often with a slightly negative connotation due to its use in criminal law field e.g. "possession of drug paraphernalia", to denote any equipment, product, or material that is modified for making, using, or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes...

 so that they can return with a traditional search warrant.

Relevance to the USA PATRIOT Act

Under the USA PATRIOT Act

USA PATRIOT Act

The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...

 signed into law during the 107th United States Congress

107th United States Congress

The One Hundred Seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2001 to January 3, 2003, during the final...

 on October 26, 2001, sneak and peek warrants for the first time in United States history were used as standard procedure in investigations. Sneak and peek warrants are addressed in Section 213, under Title II or the Enhanced Surveillance Procedures. These warrants are not exclusive to acts of foreign and domestic terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

. Sneak and peek warrants are applicable to any federal crime

Federal crime

In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is a crime that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation. In the United States, criminal law and prosecution happen at both the federal and the state levels; thus a “federal crime” is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law, and...

, including misdemeanors.