The corporate world has learned that layoffs and cutbacks often produce results other than the intended boost in financial performance. So, too, the news industry.

An article in USA Today describes how Ted Koppel, anchor for ABC's Nightline program, expressed concern about the potential for terrorist attacks in his diary, "Off Camera," which was published in 2000."

So, last summer, Nightline invited a group of intelligence officials for an off-the-record chat with staff. Koppel recalls that he talked in the meeting about the diminishing role of networks in covering foreign news and how all broadcast networks were cutting back on overseas bureaus and correspondents," says the article.

"And this guy from the CIA said, 'You don't know how uneasy that makes me feel. We've been cutting back on foreign operatives because the people at the CIA believe that anything we need to know that happens overseas we can get from the networks.' "