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Presidential remarks of September 12, 2001. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States,
George W. Bush, 2001, II, Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office, 2003, p. 1100.
Order Code RS22357
Updated January 16, 2007
Authorization For Use Of Military Force in
Response to the 9/11 Attacks (P.L. 107-40):
Legislative History
Richard F. Grimmett
Specialist in National Defense
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
Summary
In response to the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001,
the Congress passed legislation, S.J.Res. 23, on September 14, 2001, authorizing the
President to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations,
organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the
terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations
or persons....” The President signed this legislation into law on September 18, 2001
(P.L. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224 (2001)). This report provides a legislative history of this
statute, the “Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF), which, as Congress
stated in its text, constitutes the legislative authorization for the use of U.S. military
force contemplated by the War Powers Resolution. It also is the statute which the
President and his attorneys have subsequently cited as an authority for him to engage in
electronic surveillance against possible terrorists without obtaining authorization of the
special Court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, as
amended. This report will only be updated if events warrant.
On September 11, 2001, terrorists linked to Islamic militant Usama bin Laden
hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners, crashing two into the twin towers of the World
Trade Center in New York City, and another into the Pentagon building in Arlington,
Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, after
passengers struggled with the highjackers for control of the aircraft. The collective death
toll resulting from these incidents was nearly 3,000. President George W. Bush
characterized these attacks as more than acts of terror. “They were acts of war,” he said.
He added that “freedom and democracy are under attack,” and he asserted that the United
States would use “all of our resources to conquer this enemy.”
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