The USA Act and the Financial Anti-Terrorism Act are the legislative precursors to the

USA PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

USA Act

The USA Act (Uniting and Strengthening America Act of 2001) is an expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. The primary difference between the USA Act and FISA is the definition of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. In FISA, terrorism is limited to acts that are "backed by a foreign power." The phrase "foreign power" is commonly interpreted to refer to a foreign government. Focus on Al Qaeda after

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hu ...

raised the issue that there are terrorists who are not backed by a foreign government and even those who may act completely alone. In the USA Act, terrorism was redefined to be activity that appears to be intended to (1) intimidate or coerce the government or civil population AND (2) breaks criminal laws AND (3) endangers human life.

Financial Anti-Terrorism Act

The Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 () was a bill calling for the Federal Government to have the increased ability to control and monitor financial criminals and the ability to sentence them. The Financial Anti-Terrorism Act allows: *Criminals to be punished, those who were engaged in illegal money practices *Gives procedural guidelines for Federal subpoenas for records of funds in correspondent bank accounts *Federal jurisdiction over foreign

money launderers Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

and over money laundered through a foreign

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

*All financial institutions to be forced to form an anti-money laundering program

Legislative history: combining into the USA PATRIOT Act

The USA Act passed the House () on October 12, 2001, and by the Senate () on October 11, 2001. On October 17, 2001 the Financial Anti-Terrorism Act passed the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

: 412-1. The only Representative to vote "Nay" was Ron Paul. The USA Act and the Financial Anti-Terrorism Act were combined to become the

on October 26, 2001.

External links

H.R. 2975
The House's version of the USA Act.
S. 1510
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916024052/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:S.1510: , date=2008-09-16 The Senate's version of the USA Act.

- A full-text version of the Financial Anti-Terrorism Act
Summary
A summary of the Financial Anti-Terror Act Patriot Act