NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.

CIA Director Leon E. Panetta says former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration’s approach to terrorism almost suggests “he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.”

Panetta told the New Yorker for an article in its June 22 issue that Cheney “smells some blood in the water” on the issue of national security. Cheney has said in several interviews that he thinks President Obama is making the U.S. less safe.

Panetta said: “It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that’s dangerous politics.”