President Obama says he is worried about a nuclear attack on New York City.
"I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan,” the president said on Tuesday when speaking to reporters after the nuclear security summit in The Hague, Netherlands.
The remark came in response to a reporter's question asking if Russia remained the United States' No. 1 geopolitical foe, as Mitt Romney said during the 2012 campaign.
"They don’t pose the No. 1 national security threat to the United States," Obama said, before making the comment about the nuclear attack on New York. That’s why, the president said, the United States has organized the Nuclear Security Summit -- to help eliminate that threat in a consistent way.
But don't cancel your brunch plans, Brooklyn. The White House was quick to clarify the President wasn't dropping any hints of an impending al Qaeda attack on the city.
“The President was not discussing intelligence,” White House National Security Staff spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told the New York Daily News.
“For years the NYPD has recognized the fact that Manhattan is considered a potential terror target. We continue to maintain an appropriate level of security according to on-going threat assessments. There are currently no known threats of this nature against the city,” Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Davis added.
Still, it was chilling to hear President Obama talk about the nuclear destruction of America's most populated city. The New York Daily News, for one, didn't appreciate the President sharing his No. 1 fear.
The New York Daily News didn't appreciate Obama musing about a nuclear bomb going off in Manhattan. pic.twitter.com/DInp0hkSO1— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) March 26, 2014
What's better about this Daily News article: the illustration or the I Am Legend reference? http://t.co/KPlDUrMMjy pic.twitter.com/JIbfEffaqt— Adam Clark Estes (@adamclarkestes) March 26, 2014