--- title: Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa description: "I think it'll make me look smart to not go into some place where there's a lot of danger." canonical: https://time.com/4153570/ben-carson-africa-trip/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-17T17:19:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:28:05.663Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa og:description: Carson announced earlier this month that he would travel to Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia og:url: https://time.com/4153570/ben-carson-africa-trip/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f0df01c8f9fbd7c/698875dc8e0601d5ca463d0a/ben-carson2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ben Carson at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nev. on Nov. 15, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa twitter:description: Carson announced earlier this month that he would travel to Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f0df01c8f9fbd7c/698875dc8e0601d5ca463d0a/ben-carson2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa by [Chris Jansing / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Chris Jansing / NBC News Dec 17, 2015 5:19 PM UTC  Ben Carson at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nev. on Nov. 15, 2015. Ben Carson at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nev. on Nov. 15, 2015.Ethan Miller—Getty Images by [Chris Jansing / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Chris Jansing / NBC News Dec 17, 2015 5:19 PM UTC Presidential candidate Ben Carson is canceling a planned trip to Africa, citing security issues. A senior Carson campaign official says that the move came after government officials briefed the campaign on potential security concerns, adding that the cancellation was not related to Carson’s recent slide in the polls. Asked about the cancellation during a campaign stop in Las Vegas, Carson said “It’s classified information so I’m just going to say it’s too dangerous,” according to a pool reporter. Carson added he was not concerned that the decision might make him look weak on foreign policy. “I think it’ll make me… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ben-carson-cancels-planned-africa-trip-n481781?cid=par-time%5F20151217) Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4153570/ben-carson-africa-trip/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4153570/ben-carson-africa-trip/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa","datePublished":"2015-12-17T17:19:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:28:05.663Z","description":"Carson announced earlier this month that he would travel to Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia","url":"https://time.com/4153570/ben-carson-africa-trip/","keywords":["Africa","Dr. Benjamin S. Carson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f0df01c8f9fbd7c/698875dc8e0601d5ca463d0a/ben-carson2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Jansing / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f0df01c8f9fbd7c/698875dc8e0601d5ca463d0a/ben-carson2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ben Carson at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nev. on Nov. 15, 2015.","caption":"Ben Carson at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nev. on Nov. 15, 2015.","creditText":"Ethan Miller—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4153570/ben-carson-africa-trip/","name":"Ben Carson Cancels Planned Trip to Africa"}}]}] ```