"According to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources, Congress late last year "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 $400 million, "were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the countrys religious leadership.... Clandestine operations against Iran are not new." U.S. Special Operations Forces "have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year.... But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials.""