Here are some of Wictor's "what ifs" and speculations on this here;
https://social.quodverum.com/@ThomasWic/105658837434744076 and this
https://social.quodverum.com/@ThomasWic/105665457140048613 He even quotes Brennan center: "Not one PEAD has ever been declassified or leaked."
A PEAD becomes unclassified when a president signs it.
That doesn't mean anyone can get at it nor would they even know it was signed.
From document page 625 from this document:
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/2)%20Commerce,%20Justice,%20Science,%20etc%E2%80%A6%20Appropriations%202018.pdfBeginning in FY 2012, OLC has been working on and updating a series of Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs), first prepared by OLC in 1989 and updated pursuant to presidential directive in 2008. PEADs are pre-coordinated legal documents designed to implement a Presidential decision or transmit a Presidential request when an emergency disrupts normal governmental or legislative processes. A PEAD may take the form of a Proclamation, Executive Order, or Message to Congress. The PEAD Portfolio as an entirety is classified Secret; however, after signature by the President, individual PEADs are unclassified. In coordination with the Office of Counsel to the President and the National Security Council Staff, and under presidential direction, OLC has begun a legal review of the PEADs, to ensure that each of the approximately 56 documents reflects current law and adequately addresses the emergencies for which it was prepared. OLC's detailed PEAD review involves original legal research, review of other agencies' legal work, and a substantial amount of legal writing and editing. so, can action be taken on an unsigned PEAD ?