United States President George W Bush has expanded the powers of the CIA director and ordered the creation of a national counter-terrorism centre to synchronise and sharpen the government's fight against terror.

The new measures, aimed at silencing critics who have questioned the effectiveness of the US intelligence apparatus, give the agency chief far greater authority over the intelligence budgets.

Bush, who signed four executive orders and two presidential directives to effect the changes, also gave the intelligence chief power to determine how various agencies, including the Defence Department, spend the money on various programmes.

The interim reforms comes after criticism from the Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry over the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the September 11 probe panel's proposal to revamp the intelligence set up.

The proposed national counter-terrorism centre, with a director to be appointed by the CIA chief, will coordinate the government's fight against terror, including intelligence gathering, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Other measures signed by Bush include formation of a civil liberties board to be chaired by the deputy attorney general and standardisation of identification requirements for federal workers and contractors seeking entry to federal facilities, he said.

The President also outlined the guidelines for information-sharing between various government agencies.

Terming the interim measures an important first step towards creation of a new national intelligence director, the White House official said, "These orders frankly make good on Bush's committment and strengthen the foundation on which we move forward with the Congress."

"The president has strained the limits of his power with these executive orders," he added.

The 9/11 Commission had called for revamping of the intelligence services and the creation of a national director to control the intelligence agencies.