---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 3618"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "3618"
heading: "Defense of Panama Canal"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/3618"
units:
  - "Chapter 51 — Panama Canal"
  - "Subchapter I — Administration and Regulations"
  - "Part 1"
---

# §3618. Defense of Panama Canal


In the event of an armed attack against the Panama Canal, or when, in the opinion of the President, conditions exist which threaten the security of the Canal, the [Administrator](/usc/22/277d–43.md?p=1) of the [Commission](/usc/22/277d–43.md?p=2) shall, upon the order of the President, comply with such directives as the United States military officer charged with the protection and defense of the Panama Canal may consider necessary in the exercise of his duties.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 96–70, title I, § 1108, Sept. 27, 1979, 93 Stat. 458.)