President Obama on Monday sought to assure people that government officials were working to keep Americans safe after weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, and a separate Islamic State-inspired attack in Minnesota.
“I want to take the opportunity to reassure the people in this city and this region and across the country … that our counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals are working together around the clock to keep us safe,” Obama said in a statement in New York Monday.
The president called those professionals “the best of the best” and said the nation is “grateful for their service today and every day.”
“We are extremely grateful that no one was killed,” he added.
Obama stopped short of calling the New York bombings and the related bomb threats in New Jersey terrorist attacks, but he did encourage people not to give into the terrorists’ goals.
“They want to inspire fear in all of us — and disrupt the way we live to undermine our values,” he said. “Even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive in preventing senseless acts of violence and find those who carry them out. We all have a role to play as citizens to make sure we don’t succumb to that fear.”
Obama said there was no connection between the East Coast events and the Minnesota stabbing, and he did not mention that the suspect in the bombings, Ahmad Khan Rahami, has been taken into custody.
Obama urged all Americans to contact law enforcement if they suspect terrorist activity. “I want to repeat, if you see something suspicious, then you need to say something,” he said.
Obama and other world leaders are gathered in New York City for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Because those meetings are taking place, many law enforcement officials are alread in New York coordinating will local authorities, he said.
He pledged to “find those responsible and make sure justice is done.”
