Iran: Presidential Finding

Annals of National Security: Preparing the Battlefield, The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran, by Seymour M. Hersh, New Yorker, July 7, 2008

Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran ..

These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding

Under federal law, a Presidential Finding, which is highly classified, must be issued when a covert intelligence operation gets under way and, at a minimum, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and to the ranking members of their respective intelligence committees—the so-called Gang of Eight. Money for the operation can then be reprogrammed from previous appropriations, as needed, by the relevant congressional committees, which also can be briefed.

The Pentagon consultant said, “Fallon went down because, in his own way, he was trying to prevent a war with Iran, and you have to admire him for that.”