An apparently unrepentant Robertson did not retract his earlier comments -- although he allowed they had been "rather graphic" -- and maintained they had been intended to be lighthearted.

The one-time Republican presidential hopeful also said he had mistakenly attributed the sentiment to columnist Joel Mowbray, author of a scathing critique of the State Department.

"I was trying to characterize the rather negative tone in your book in a laughing fashion," Robertson said in an interview with Mowbray to be broadcast later Monday on his nationally televised "700 Club" program.

"I mentioned the question of nuking the State Department," he said, according to a transcript of the interview posted on Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network website (www.cbn.com).

"Mr Mowbray did not use the term 'nuke', he said it should be gutted and I think we ought to make that clear ... Joel did not say 'Nuke the State Department,' so we've changed: We're not going to nuke it, we're going to gut it," Robertson said.

Later, using the word "eviscerated," he said he would like to see "a top to bottom overhaul (of the State Department) with a major portion of the current personnel gone and somebody else taking their place."

Robertson's initial remarks -- also made in an interview with Mowbray, author of "Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens American Security" -- drew vehement protests from the State Department.

Spokesman Richard Boucher called the remarks "despicable" and a senior department official said a protest had been made "at the highest level."

"I lack sufficient capabilities to express my disdain," Boucher told reporters on Thursday. "I think the very idea, though, is despicable."

During the course of the earlier broadcast, Robertson had said that after finishing Mowbray's book he had thought to himself: "If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom, I think that's the answer."

"I mean, you get through this, and you say, 'We've got to blow that thing up'," Robertson said.

Foggy Bottom is the Washington neighborhood where the State Department's headquarters is located.

Mowbray's book accuses the State Department of endangering the security of the United States by allegedly cavorting with sponsors of terrorism, negligence or incompetence in the visa issuance process and ignoring the travails of US citizens abroad.

The State Department has denied Mowbray's allegations on numerous occasions.

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