Domestic spy rules may be relaxed

A new executive order still in the planning stage would make it easier for intelligence agencies to operate in the US, says Richard Willard, head of the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review.

The order, a revision of an earlier one that caused an outcry from civil libertarians who said it would give the government more authority to spy on Americans, will give intelligence agencies "more flexibility" by requiring fewer layers of approval for procedures such as photographic surveillance. The latest drafts try to clarify "exactly what intelligence agencies are going to be doing and eliminate those fears which were not well-founded but were understandable," Mr. Willard says.