The FBI extended the terrorism alert for the United States Wednesday through March 11 (see GSN, Dec. 18).  The alert was based on general threat information rather than a specific threat, officials said yesterday.  “We continue to receive generalized threats on a daily basis,” said an FBI official.

The alert is scheduled to extend beyond the Winter Olympics scheduled for Feb. 8-24 in Salt Lake City.  Olympic events have raised security issues in the past, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.  Several officials said they did not think the fact that March 11 would be the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks was related to the alert, according to the Miami Herald (Borenstein/Savino, Miami Herald, Jan. 4).

The Dec. 22 arrest of Richard Reid for attempting to bomb an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami was one reason for extending the warning, officials said.  The FBI suspects Reid’s attempt could have been part of a planned second round of attacks, the Washington Post reported.

The Bush administration has issued three alerts since Sept. 11, and some critics have said the alerts frighten the public without providing details.  The warning issued this week was sent only to law enforcement agencies and not announced publicly.

“The decision was made that it might make more sense to do it this way from now on,” said a law enforcement official.  Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said recently that he wanted to develop a system with different levels of alert (Eggen/Miller, Washington Post, Jan. 4).

Local authorities said there was little more they could do protect against threats, the Miami Herald reported.  “We stay at the highest level of readiness,” said Bob Andrews, Las Vegas emergency management chief.

Ridge is scheduled to visit the site of the Olympics next week (Borenstein/Savino, Miami Herald, Jan. 4).

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