US President Barack Obama is facing criticism for using the death of Osama Bin Laden as part of his campaign for re-election.
The former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, and senior Republican figures have accused him of cheapening the memory of 11 September 2001.
However Mr Obama's top adviser on terrorism brushed aside the criticism and said the US president had made a gutsy decision that the American people appreciated and supported.
A campaign video on the death of Osama Bin Laden and a televised interview with the president on the subject filmed in the White House prompted the Republican challenger Mitt Romney to accuse the president of behaviour unbecoming that of a commander-in-chief.
"The commander-in-chief gets one chance to make the right decision," the video said, also quoting former President Bill Clinton praising Mr Obama for ordering the raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.
"Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?" it asks, before referring to news reports quoting the former Massachusetts governor saying it was "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."
Republicans roundly criticised the ad.
John McCain, Mr Obama's opponent in the 2008 election, called it cheap. "Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad," he said in a statement.
"President Obama is shamelessly turning the one decision he got right into a pathetic political act of self-congratulation."
The video was similar to one used against Mr Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary campaign by rival Hillary Clinton questioning whether the then-inexperienced Obama was the right person to answer a "3am call."
However, in an interview on ABC television's 'This Week' programme, chief White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan had a different opinion.
"I don't do politics. I don't do the campaign. I am not a Democrat or Republican," he said.
"All that I know is that the president made the decision when he was given the opportunity to take a gutsy decision, to carry out that raid with our special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
"The president made that decision. I think the American people are, you know, clearly very appreciative and supportive of that decision. We're safer today as a result," he said.
Mr Brennan noted that Mr Obama took the decision to go forward with the raid against the advice of some of his most senior advisers, who had reservations about the operation.
Meanwhile, Mr Obama used the annual White House correspondents dinner last night to lampoon Mr Romney's wealth.
He riffed off the hit movie the "Hunger Games" to poke Mr Romney's Republican primary approach which he said saw "wealthy sponsors" brutally savage each other until only one contestant is left standing.
"I'm sure this was a great change of pace for him," Obama joked before a crowd of 2,000 journalists and celebrities.
"Everybody is predicting a nasty election. And thankfully, we've all agreed that families are off-limits," Mr Obama said, after a period when the two campaigns have feuded over the women's vote.
"Dogs, however, are apparently fair game," Mr Obama quipped.
Mr Romney has been dogged by Democratic supporters who keep bringing up the former Massachusetts governor's family road trip years ago when he put his family pet aboard the roof of his station wagon in a kennel.
As President Obama spoke, a large screen in the ballroom of the Washington hotel hosting the dinner, pictured a mock-up of a dog kennel atop Air Force One.
