LONDON -- The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is working to expose bribery by foreign countries and companies which cause U.S. firms to miss lucrative contracts, the agency's head said in an interview published Wednesday.


CIA director James Woolsey told the authoritative Jane's Defence Weekly that where bribery is spotted, the U.S. State Department demands that there should be a new round of bids for the contract involved.


Woolsey said the CIA gathers intelligence about the commercial practices of foreign governments with relish.


However, he said CIA involvement in specific cases is hardly ever made public. No specific foreign country or company was mentioned in the report.


"Some of the American corporations who have benefited from projects being rebid because we have been able to take actions have stated publicly they need no help from American intelligence," Woolsey said.


He added that the CIA also monitors efforts by both friendly and unfriendly foreign intelligence services to spy on U.S. firms.