But I agree that this constitution is textually silent about national security and... foreign policy that's below the level of conduct of war.

No, it's interesting that you mentioned covert warfare, covert operations, because even at the height of its efforts to restrain the president's foreign policy powers in the 1970s, Congress never claimed that it could prohibit the president from carrying out covert operations.

What you find is if the president wants to carry out a covert operation, the president is going to do that.

The president just has to make a finding in writing.

explaining why we need this covert operation and signing his name on it so that he's basically saying, I'm accountable for this, whichever way it goes.

So it's very interesting that Congress hasn't even tried to say, we have the power over covert operations.

You can't, President, you cannot do this.

But Congress could have said, I'm not giving you the money either.