WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s statement Thursday that the United States needs to strengthen its nuclear capabilities referred to the need to prevent nuclear weapons from spreading to unstable countries or terrorist groups, a spokesman said.

“President-elect Trump was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it - particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes,” spokesman Jason Miller said.

In his Twitter post earlier, Trump wrote, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”