Headline: "CIA chief hints change needed in ban on probing Americans"

Excerpts: WASHINGTON--CIA Director Robert Gates says changes might be needed in the U.S. law that forbids the agency from collecting information about Americans or U.S. companies. Such changes might enable the CIA to better support the Justice Department and other law enforcement agencies, he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Juding by what I read in "The Puzzle Palace" the other day, I gather no such ban exists on the NSA doing this. Hardly seems to matter much whether one has two "Big Brothers" watching over use or just one ! And the budget of the NSA is a hell of a lot bigger than the CIA. david