"The CIA had put in place a directive saying that if unsavory characters - that is, people that have abused human rights themselves, for example - were going to be used as sources and paid, that there had to be approval above the field level," Clinton told Brokaw.

During the 10-minute interview, the ex-president never acknowledged any responsibility for the spy recruitiment directive, which officials now say may have helped terrorists conceal their plans to attack New York and Washington.

After distancing himself from the decision, Clinton defended the new limitations.

"The director of the CIA says there's not a single instance in which the CIA has declined to use a source in a terrorist case," he told NBC, then added, "But apparently some field operatives feel they may be somewhat constrained. That ought to be reviewed and if so we ought to change the rules."

Still, the ex-president maintained the new limitations did nothing to hurt U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts.

"So far as I know, every potential human intelligence source was explored," he told Brokaw.

Just hours after last Tuesday's terrorist attacks, a former CIA official who was once stationed in the Mideast told NewsMax.com's Executive Editor Christopher Ruddy that the Clinton administration order decimated the CIA's ability to gather human intelligence.

"[Clinton CIA Director John] Deutch and [top aide] Nora [Slatkin], Clinton's anti-intelligence plants, implemented a universal 'human rights scrub' of all assets, virtually shutting down operations for 6 months to a year," the CIA source said.

"After that, each asset had to be certified as being 'clean for human rights violations.'

"What this did was to put off limits, in effect, terrorists, criminals, and anyone else who would have info on these kinds of people."