John Brennan, President Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, is making a habit of smearing GOP critics of the president’s security decisions.

In a USA Today op-ed today, Brennan writes that “[p]olitically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda”:

Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill. They will, however, be dismantled and destroyed, by our military, our intelligence services and our law enforcement community. And the notion that America’s counterterrorism professionals and America’s system of justice are unable to handle these murderous miscreants is absurd.

Back in January, Brennan engaged in a similar attack, accusing Republicans who criticized the administration of “playing into Al Qaeda’s strategic effort.”

Brennan’s rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of the attacks on dissent that Republicans frequently engaged in during the Bush years, particularly John Ashcroft’s infamous testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, is the Obama administration giving in to the same temptation?