Reply #21: I found this on findlaw...

[Spazito]

Section 2414. Presidential findings and determinations

(a) Report to Congress
In any case in which the President is required to make a report
to the Congress, or to any committee or officer of either House of
Congress, concerning any finding or determination under any
provision of this chapter, the Foreign Military Sales Act (22
U.S.C. 2751 et seq.), or the Foreign Assistance and Related
Programs Appropriation Act for each fiscal year, that finding or
determination shall be reduced to writing and signed by the
President.
(b) Action prohibition prior to execution of report
No action shall be taken pursuant to any such finding or
determination prior to the date on which that finding or
determination has been reduced to writing and signed by the
President.
(c) Publication in Federal Register
Each such finding or determination shall be published in the
Federal Register as soon as practicable after it has been reduced
to writing and signed by the President. In any case in which the
President concludes that such publication would be harmful to the
national security of the United States, only a statement that a
determination or finding has been made by the President, including
the name and section of the Act under which it was made, shall be
published.
(d) Information accessible to Congress prior to transmission of
report
No committee or officer of either House of Congress shall be
denied any requested information relating to any finding or
determination which the President is required to report to the
Congress, or to any committee or officer of either House of
Congress, under any provision of this chapter, the Foreign Military
Sales Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.), or the Foreign Assistance and
Related Programs Appropriation Act for each fiscal year, even
though such report has not yet been transmitted to the appropriate
committee or officer of either House of Congress.



http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/22/chapters/32/subchapters/iii/parts/iii/sections/section_2414.html


Edited to add this:

Allen Thomson asked:

"Are there any of your listed papers in the library that might
illuminate interesting intelligence matters if successfully FOIAed? How
Presidental
Findings relating to CIA and other actions got approved in the Reagan years
certainly seems to qualify -- which papers would you suggest be requested?"

I don't think so. The interagency process for approving Presidential
Findings during the Reagan years was substantially the same as the process
during the Carter years. Findings, whatever the provenance, were subjected
to coordination and approval from the usual members of the National Security
Council: State, Defense,the Joint Chiefs, Department of Justice and CIA.
They were vetted at the Undersecretary level before being approved at the
Secretary level and finally by the President presiding at a full NSC
meeting. They were always reviewed by the Department of Justice for
compliance with law before they went forward. While I didn't serve during
Carter's presidency, I understand that this process originated with Jimmy
Carter following the Congressionally mandated requirement that a President
formally sign a Finding providing for Covert Action, as defined under the
National Security Act as ammended. This process continued under the first
Bush administration and into the Clinton years, with only minor procedural
changes, I believe.

Vince Cannistraro



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