President Barack Obama said on Thursday that there is no specific, credible information suggesting a potential terrorist attack against the United States, The Associated Press reports.
At the same time, he stressed Americans must be vigilant this holiday season.
“We cannot give in to fear or change how we live our lives,” Obama said in brief remarks to employees at the National Counterterrorism Center quoted by AP. “We will not be terrorized. We’ve prevailed over much greater threats than this; we will prevail again.”
Obama spoke after a briefing by his national security team on the current threat level, the effort to combat extremist groups and propaganda abroad, and steps to tighten scrutiny of people entering the United States on visas.
AP noted that Obama’s remarks nearly echoed a statement he delivered just before Thanksgiving, one week before the shooting in San Bernardino, California.
That statement came two weeks after the terrorist attacks in Paris, following which the Islamic State (ISIS) threatened to attack the White House and also threatened Times Square in New York.
On Thursday, Obama noted he was briefed on the K-1 visa program, which the female attacker in San Bernardino used to come to the U.S. in July 2014.
Tashfeen Malik passed background checks and in-person interviews, but FBI Director James Comey has said officials believe she was radicalized before she arrived.
Malik and her husband, Syed Farook, pledged allegiance to an ISIS leader in a Facebook posting as the shooting occurred.
The FBI has said that Farook and Malik were both radicalized “for quite some time” and had taken target practice at Los Angeles-area shooting ranges, and once “within days” of the massacre.
Obama said on Thursday the threat of terrorism has evolved to include smaller groups or individuals, making detection harder. He said the U.S. was constantly “upping our game” to match the new threats, according to AP.
He said the United States was focused on three areas: going after terrorists overseas; working to prevent terrorists from entering the country; and strengthening ties between law enforcement and local communities and the technology sector to prevent attacks at home.
“We have to be vigilant,” he was quoted as having said.