The US Intelligence Chief has asked Congress for more changes to a law that he says limits the government's authority to eavesdrop.

In his testimony prepared for a Tuesday congressional hearing, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell says that a law passed last month expanding the US government's eavesdropping power is needed to protect against not only "terrorists" but also "more traditional potential adversaries".

He is seeking changes to the Protect America Act, which Congress hastily adopted just before going on vacation in August based on McConnell's warnings of a dire gap in US intelligence.

The Protect America Act allows the government to eavesdrop, without a court order, on all communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one end of the conversation.

Such surveillance was generally prohibited under the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and it is one of the more controversial aspects of the new law.

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