Obama weakening national defense?

While every senior in an AP Government/Honors Econ. course loves to criticize and laugh at former President Bush, we must step back and realize that there were no more successful terrorist attacks on the United States after 9/11. Was this a product of the War on Terrorism, forcing terrorists onto the defense, was it a product of a step-up in intelligence gathering that allowed the prevention of terrorist attacks before they occurred, or have terrorists simply not tried anything since that date? Either way, the Bush administration stepped up its national defense game after the 9/11 attack so we can assume their policies worked.

Now with President Obama in command, will we see the same success with his recent alterations to the Bush administration's national defense policies? Bush's former Vice President Dick Cheney certainly doesn't believe so.

“He is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack,” Cheney stated.

In regards to the closure of Guantanamo Bay, the suspension of military trials for terrorist suspects, etc., Cheney stated, “I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoyed of being able to collect the intelligence that let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11."

He also comments on the different strategies necessary when combating terrorist threats as a law enforcement issue and when combating it as a military issue. His accusations of President Obama seem legitimate to an extent, and as much as everyone disliked the Bush administration, these warnings should be taken into account. To what extent do you agree with Cheney's accusations? Do you believe Obama's policies should give us any reason to worry about future threats?