Police Commissioner Bill Bratton had tough words for Donald Trump and Rudolph Giuliani Tuesday as a debate raged over how to protect New York and America from terrorism following the attack in Florida. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

Police Commissioner William Bratton fired back at Republican critics of President Barack Obama and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Bratton rejected Donald Trump's charge that Obama's anti-terror policies and refusal to use the phrase "radical Islam" are leading America to ruin.

"Actions count, speak louder than words," Bratton said. "This president, I think, has made it quite clear through his very aggressive actions in terms of use of missiles, etc. He's been doing one hell of a job basically trying to kill those bastards before they kill us."  

Bratton also took issue with his one-time boss, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, after Giuliani sharply criticized the dismantling of the secretive NYPD program that conducted surveillance of Muslim neighborhoods.

"It is like lining the ducks up in the shooting gallery. Pop them up. I knocked it down with Cruz, I will knock it down with Trump and I will knock it down with the former mayor," Bratton said. "The loss of that unit has had no impact whatsoever."

On Fox News Tuesday morning, Giuliani said it made no sense for de Blasio to end the surveillance.

"How stupid is it to pull police officers out of the mosques? Absolutely stupid," Giuliani said.

"The reality is, I put police officers undercover in mosques, and then Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg increased it substantially after September 11 as they should have. And the present mayor has taken them out."

Bratton and Giuliani have a history. Bratton was forced out as Giuliani's police commissioner in 1996, supposedly because he was getting too much credit for dramatic declines in crime.

As the city's police commissioner again, Bratton says dismantling the unit that conducted so-called mapping of Muslim neighborhoods did not put New Yorkers at risk.

"You actually think that the city of New York is in danger because three individuals are no longer mapping communities?" Bratton said.

Bratton said he's added hundreds of counterterrorism officers to protect the city.