Sen. Joe Lieberman on Monday defended President Barack Obama against former Vice President Dick Cheney’s claims that the Obama administration has made the country less safe.

“We’re not less safe,” said Lieberman, who was one of Obama’s leading critics on national security during the presidential campaign.

“Our guard is up. In fact, I’d say that when it came to Afghanistan, obviously, this Obama administration has put more resources into the fight against terrorism than had previously been the case,” Lieberman added in an interview on MSNBC. “On balance, we remain as safe as we can possibly be in a world in which there is Islamist extremists who want to attack us.”

Appearing Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Cheney had said it was his “belief” that the nation is less safe because of changes Obama has made in national security.

“In the future, we’re not going to have the same safeguards we’ve had for the last eight years,” Cheney said.

On Monday, Lieberman said he still disagrees with some of the president’s national security policies but made clear that he believes the new administration is determined to protect the country.

“This administration has done everything it could, even in those areas that I disagree with them,” Lieberman said.

(Source: Politico.com)