CIA Director Leon Panetta doesn't really think former Vice President Dick Cheney wants to see his country attacked, the intelligence agency said Tuesday. 

The CIA, through spokesman Paul Gimigliano, walked back a controversial statement Panetta recently made to The New Yorker while arguing that his quote was misinterpreted in the first place. 

"The director does not believe the former Vice President wants an attack. He did not say that," Gimigliano said. "He was simply expressing his profound disagreement with the assertion that President Obama's security policies have made our country less safe. Nor did he question anyone's motives." 

The statement comes after Cheney said Monday that he hopes his "old friend Leon was misquoted." 

Others had harsher words, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., calling on the CIA chief to retract his statement, arguing that the director crossed the line. 

"It's unfair. Obviously, the vice president is concerned about his legacy and the future of the country," McCain said on NBC's "Today Show" Tuesday. "Leon Panetta should retract that statement. He knows Dick Cheney better than that. ... to question his motives I think is entirely wrong." 

McCain told FOX News Monday that Panetta should retract "immediately."

Panetta, a long-time Washington insider with scant intelligence experience, has been caught in the middle of a political war during his first few months on the job. First, he had to deal with morale issues as President Obama cracked down on the rules for detainee interrogations. Then he stepped up to dispute House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's allegation that the CIA misled Congress about the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques. 

In the latest crossfire, Panetta was firing back against Cheney's frequent media appearances in which he's accused Obama of making America less safe. 

According to The New Yorker, Panetta said Cheney "smells some blood in the water" on the 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," he said, according to the piece. 

Asked about the statement Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs ducked. 

"I'm not going to get into motivations. That's not what our business is. The president's concern is keeping the American people safe," Gibbs said Monday.