The USA Patriot Act is a set of rules and regulations that were enacted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US. The Patriot Act is considered to be a milestone in the regulatory landscape because it granted law enforcement agencies expanded authority to investigate, charge, and prosecute terrorists. Additionally, it imposed harsher penalties for those involved in terrorist activities.
The USA Patriot Act minimized the barrier that had previously made it hard to share information between domestic law enforcement and foreign counterintelligence agencies. It was set as an improvement on a similar US law, “Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996,” which was passed after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing during President Clinton’s time in office. Currently, the Patriot Act mandates that the obliged entities in the financial industry report any suspicious customer activities to combat terrorism-related money laundering.