Leon Panetta has described Mr Cheney′s strident criticisms of Mr Obama′s approach to national security as "gallows politics".

In an interview for the June 22 issue of The New Yorker magazine released yesterday, Mr Panetta said he believed Mr Cheney "smells some blood in the water".

Mr Cheney, who opposes the President′s plan to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay for terrorist suspects, has not hesitated to declare that Mr Obama is on the wrong path after assuming office.

In an address to the conservative American Enterprise Institute last month, Mr Cheney warned that bringing the worst terrorists on to US soil posed a great danger.

Despite widespread criticism of his hard line, including support for alleged torture of detainees during the Bush administration, Mr Cheney insisted there was no middle ground in the fight against terrorism.

"Half-measures keep you half-exposed," he said in the May 21 speech.

That ideological assault on Mr Obama came on the same day the President firmly defended his policies during a major speech on national security on the other side of Washington at the National Archives.

Mr Obama told his audience that no accused detainees would be released who could endanger national security.

He also accused his predecessor George W. Bush of conducting a "misguided experiment" in establishing the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba that had resulted in a "mess".

So far Mr Bush has stuck to his pledge to stay out of the political maelstrom by not commenting on his successor′s policies.

But Mr Cheney has felt no compunction, claiming in last month′s speech and a series of interviews that the US is less safe under Mr Obama.

Mr Panetta told The New Yorker: "I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue.

"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."

Mr Cheney wants Guantanamo Bay prison, which has 240 inmates, to remain open and opposes a reversal of other policies of the Bush administration.

He has been critical of Mr Obama′s declaration that harsh interrogation methods must cease, arguing that measures introduced by the Bush administration helped prevent further attacks on the US after September 11, 2001.

Speaking on the NBC television program Meet the Press, Vice-President Joe Biden declined to question the motive behind Mr Cheney′s repeated criticisms.

But Mr Biden added: "I think Dick Cheney′s judgment about how to secure America is faulty. I think our judgment is correct."

Mr Panetta, 70, has come into the job as chief of the US intelligence agency after difficult years for the organisation. It was criticised for not anticipating the September 11 attacks and has since come under fire over the treatment of accused terrorist detainees during interrogations.

Although he bears considerable responsibility for US national security, Mr Panetta has almost no experience in intelligence. In his early career, Mr Panetta served briefly in the military.

Most of his career has been in US politics, as a Democratic congressman for Monterey and later as a staffer to former US president Bill Clinton.

Mr Panetta was Mr Clinton′s budget director and later his chief of staff.

When Mr Obama gave his May 21 address, Mr Panetta was standing next to the President. He learned of Mr Cheney′s speech after returning to CIA headquarters that day.