CIA POLICIES MUST CHANGE CHENEY SAYS

WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA must change its policy of not paying operatives
with ties to terrorist groups when working to uncover schemes against
America, Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday. Cheney suggested on NBC's
"Meet The Press" show Sunday that the policy might be tossed in the wake of
the destruction of the World Trade Center and an attack on the Pentagon,

"If you're only going to work with officially approved, certified good
guys, you are not going to find out what the bad guy are doing," Cheney
said. "You have to have on payroll some very unsavory characters. This is a
mean, nasty, dangerous, dirty, business. We have to operate in that arena."

Cheney also said that CIA director George Tenet should not be used as a
"scapegoat" in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

"I think George clearly should remain as director of the CIA. I think he
and his people do good work," Cheney said.

Cheney also said security in America's airports must be tightened.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta is forming a task force to make
recommendations to him by Oct. 1.

"They needed boxcutters, knives, razorblades and an airline ticket and that
is it," Cheney said. "They, in effect, turned our own system against us."

Other members of the Bush administration are also calling for strengthening
the nation's ability to find terrorists.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said Sunday that the administration would
ask Congress for wider latitude in tapping the telephones and computer
lines of suspected terrorists.

"In terms of wiretapping...its easier to get a wiretap against a drug
dealer or someone who's involved in illegal gambling than it is against
terrorists," Ashcroft said on "Fox News Sunday."

Ashcroft also says the nation needs better legal tools to identify and
prosecute money laundering by terrorists.