We all love the archetype and the idea of the “Presidential Agent”, a singular, highly capable warrior answering only to the Commander-in-Chief. It’s a staple of the espionage thriller. It’s the ultimate executive fantasy: a weapon that can cut through the red tape of the CIA and FBI to get the job done, no matter what.

In the narrative of Direct Action, Jack Stewart strengthens this fantasy, giving it a terrifyingly realistic legal shape through a “Presidential Finding.” President Natalie Cohen signs a piece of paper that births the “Office of Organizational Analysis” (OOA), a pocket agency designed specifically to bypass a bureaucracy that she feels is hampered by strict adherence to applicable laws and regulations.

It sounds plausible. It sounds necessary. But is it legal?

While Direct Action is a work of fiction, the legal scaffolding it stands on is very real. Today, I’m doing a deep dive into the reality of the Presidential Finding, the Hughes-Ryan Act, and whether a President could actually create their own private spy agency without ending up impeached.

This is not intended to be critical of Direct Action. Jack Stewart has, in fact, underpinned the basis of the “Presidential Agent” even more than prior books, building the credibility of the concept. This deep dive is an interesting review of just whether such a “Presidential Agent” program is possible.

The “Finding”: A License to… What?

To understand if President Cohen’s Office of Organizational Analysis could exist, we have to look at the legal instrument she uses to create it: the “Finding”.

In the real world, a “Finding” is a formal determination by the President that a covert action is necessary to support U.S. foreign policy. Before 1974, the CIA operated under “plausible deniability,” which allowed Presidents to claim ignorance of controversial ops. The Hughes-Ryan Act of 1974 killed that. It mandated that the President essentially “find” that an operation was important to national security and put their name on it.

So, yes, Findings are real. But here is where fiction and reality diverge.

In Direct Action, the Finding is used to create a clandestine and covert organization that operates completely outside of congressional view. In the real world, the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980 mandates that the President must keep the congressional intelligence committees “fully and currently informed.”

The only exception is for “extraordinary circumstances,” where notification can be limited to the “Gang of Eight” (leadership of the House and Senate and the intel committees). But even then, you have to tell someone. President Cohen’s decision to hide the OOA from Congress entirely? That’s a direct violation of Title 50 of the U.S. Code.

The Financial Problem

One of the most interesting aspects of Direct Action is how the OOA pays the bills. Real covert action costs a fortune, jets, safe houses, heavy weaponry. The Constitution is very clear on this: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

This means Congress holds the purse strings. If they don’t know about your spy agency, they can’t fund it.

The book solves this with presidential discretionary funds. However, that only goes so far. And when in a pinch, Captain McCoy’s operation is bolstered by the fortune of his uncle, John Talbot Sage.

In reality, this would violate the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal employees from accepting voluntary services or spending non-appropriated funds. Essentially, by accepting private funding for a national security operation, the OOA privatizes the use of force. It makes the President’s agent beholden not to the taxpayer, but to a private benefactor.

Bringing the War Home

The final hurdle for the OOA is geography. In the book, the OOA operates domestically, engaging enemies in in San Antonio, Virginia Beach, and Annapolis.

A Presidential Finding generally authorizes violations of foreign laws, not U.S. domestic law. You cannot use a Finding to override the Fourth Amendment or the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from enforcing domestic law.

When McCoy engages terrorists at the Alamo, he isn’t just a hero saving the day; legally, he is a military officer conducting a domestic police action without statutory authority. In the real world, this wouldn’t just result in a detention by the San Antonio PD (as it does in the book); it would likely trigger a constitutional crisis.

The Reality

Direct Action provides a thrilling roadmap for a President who wants to cut the Gordian knot of bureaucracy. It taps into a very real frustration with the slow pace of the intelligence community.

However, the “Office of Organizational Analysis” creates a paradox. It is an agency designed to save the nation by systematically violating the laws that define it. While the terminology, “Findings”, and the general basis are accurate, the reality is that it crosses the line from covert action to illegal martial law.

Can a President create a private spy agency? Physically, yes. But legally? It would likely collapse under the weight of its own secrecy long before it could save the day.

But then again, that’s why we read thrillers, isn’t it? To go where the real world can’t.

Direct Action is available December 15, 2025. You can pre-order now.

Direct Action was the second book I’ve read in the Presidential Agent series, and by far my favourite, in part due to the added realism Jack Stewart added to the basis for the Presidential Agent. Read my review: No Guts, No Glory? No. Just Huevos. Why Direct Action Changes Everything

Read my breakdown of Jack Stewart’s appearance on The poisoned Pen: SITREP: Jack Stewart Declassified at The Poisoned Pen