But the White House denied Dick Cheney had endorsed the controversial interrogation technique of simulated drowning, or "water boarding," after rights groups complained his remarks were tantamount to backing torture.
President George W Bush intervened to publicly state again that the United States "doesn't torture" as Mr Cheney's comments reopened a debate which appeared to have been closed by a new law on interrogations.
Mr Cheney himself later denied he mentioned any specific technique used in interrogation.
"I don't talk about techniques," the vice president said to reporters aboard his official aircraft.
"I have said that the interrogation program for a selected number of detainees is very important ... I believe it has allowed us to prevent terrorist attacks against the United States. I did not talk about specific techniques and won't. I didn't say anything about waterboarding ... (the interviewer) didn't even use that phrase."
No brainer
Earlier Mr Cheney was asked by conservative radio host Scott Hennen about whether he agreed that "a dunk in water is a no-brainer" if it would unearth information of pending attacks and save lives.
"It's a no-brainer for me," he replied.
"For a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president 'for torture.' We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in.
"We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we're party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that," Mr Cheney said.
But Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, condemned Mr Cheney's remarks.
"What's really a no-brainer is that no US official, much less a vice president, should champion torture," said Mr Cox.
Water boarding is ostensibly prohibited by a new law on interrogating terror suspects, passed after years of intense debate.
Human Rights Watch also reacted angrily to the remarks. "If Iran or Syria detained an American, Cheney is saying that it would be perfectly fine for them to hold that American's head under water until he nearly drowns, if that's what they think they need to do to save Iranian or Syrian lives," said Tom Malinowski, the group's Washington advocacy director.
The White House refuses to list permitted interview techniques but said torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, mutilation or maiming and intentionally causing serious bodily injury, rape, sexual assault among other techniques are prohibited.