In March, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration was not using the term 'war on terror' but there was no specific directive on this from the White House. Barack Obama used the term 'war on terror' Jan 23, his fourth day as president, but not after that.

Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism to George W. Bush, was in the audience and dismissed Brennan's speech as cosmetic.

'The question is: How do you deal with the policy?' said Zarate, who disagreed with Brennan's suggestion that the Obama administration is not continuing Bush-era policies.

Critics on either side of the political divide have pointed out that the Obama administration has continued policies such as drone attacks in Pakistan. A secret international and domestic surveillance programme remains on, and then there is the war in Afghanistan, where Obama has increased the number of US troops.

In addition, the White House is still considering the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects.

Brennan's speech was aimed at outlining ways in which the Obama administration wants to undermine the 'upstream' factors that create an environment in which terrorists are created.

James K. Glassman, who served as Bush's ambassador to the Muslim world as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, said the focus on 'upstream' factors was 'a good strategy because it's the same strategy that we had'.