Obama adviser says Cheney is wrong in criticism

John Brennan, who is President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, said he has worked for five administrations and that Obama is as determined as anyone to keep the nation safe.

Cheney said last week that Obama is "trying to pretend" that the U.S. is not at war with terrorists. The result, the Republican Cheney said, is that Americans are less safe.

"I'm very disappointed in the vice president's comments," Brennan said, described himself as neither a Democrat or Republican. "Either the vice president is willfully mischaracterizing this president's position both in terms of the language he uses and the actions he's taken, he's ignorant of the facts.

"And in either case it doesn't speak well of what the vice president is doing. The clear evidence is that this president has been very, very strong. In his inaugural address he said we're at war with this international network of terrorists. We continue to say that we're at war with al-Qaida."