The time for being politically correct is over, and more vetting and surveillance are needed to help prevent attacks like the rush hour pipe bombing near New York City's Port Authority bus terminal early Monday, Rep. Pete King said Monday.
"We have to have very strict security here at home," the New York Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
"We need the extra vetting. We need to have monitoring. We need to have surveillance. You can't afford to be politically correct."
At about 7:30 a.m. ET, a pipe bomb strapped to a man inspired by ISIS went off in a subway corridor in Times Square, injuring him and slightly wounding three others.
Cameras showed the man walking through the passageway when the bomb went off, and investigators said it was not clear if the detonation was intentional or accidental.
The suspect has been identified as Akayed Ullah, 27, after law enforcement officials said he was inspired by ISIS,but had not been in direct contact with the terrorist group.
Ullah came to the United States from Bangladesh about seven years ago, city officials said.
"This is the example, this appears to have been luck," King said. "If that guy had made it into the subway and the explosion had gone off, it could have been God knows how many people killed. We're always that close to a disaster."
New York City, he added, is always on high alert as the top terrorist target in the United States, and Monday's attack will be examined to be sure that it's not part of a coordinated effort, but as for now, it's too early to come to any conclusions.
"This has all the earmarks, all the hallmarks of either something inspired by ISIS or islamist sympathizers," said King. "New York has had a lot of attacks, coordinated attacks, lone wolves. Unfortunately, there are a number of ISIS supporters, Islamist terrorist supporters in New York."
There are some people, including politicians and the media, who claim the New York Police Department is "too heavy-handed, too much of a presence," said King.
"NYPD knows how real this threat is," he said. "They can never let their guard down. We have avoided so many terrible attacks over the years by minutes and hours.
"Back in 2009, it would have killed hundreds of people . . . I can tell you nobody in the NYPD is relaxing and enjoying themselves any time. Not anybody involved with terrorism because they realize how real the threat is. The enemy is amongst us and we can never let our guard down."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.