The Terror Authorization The History and Politics of the 2001 AUMF

In response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, Congress authorized "war" against al Qaeda in the statute known as the 2001 AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force). Meant to be a temporary grant of powers to allow the President to retaliate against the perpetrators of the attack, two administrations have used the 2001 AUMF to justify controversial policies such as the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, domestic surveillance without a warrant by the National Security Agency, and the lethal targeting of terrorist suspects using drone strikes in countries with which the United States is not at war. Shoon Murray explores the debate that has emerged about whether it is time to repeal the 2001 AUMF. She documents how the Bush and Obama administrations have used this "war" authority and warns against the sources of inertia—organizational interests, psychological biases, and political incentives—that could make it permanent.

Shoon Murray is Associate Professor of International Service at American University, USA. She served as Director of the U.S. Foreign Policy Master's program at SIS from 2008 to 2014. Her other books include Anchors Against Change: American Opinion Leaders' Beliefs After the Cold War (1997) and Mission Creep: The Militarization of US Foreign Policy (2014).

1. The AUMF Takes on "A Life of Its Own"
2. The Passage of the 2001 AUMF within Historical Context
3. The Bush Administration's Overreach: Some Pushback, but a Lasting Imprint
4. Obama and the Armed Conflict with Al Qaeda and its Associates
5. Time for Repeal and the Forces Arrayed Against It