No specific threat to Thanksgiving travel, U.S. law enforcement officials say

WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities are watching warily but have no new plan to protect travelers during the busy Thanksgiving week despite threats from Islamic State to strike targets in New York and Washington, intelligence officials said Friday.

The attacks in Paris and the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in the past three weeks put U.S. law enforcement and aviation security on heightened alert for a terrorist attack.

U.S. intelligence officials have seen no indications of credible plots beyond videos and other online postings by Islamic State militants. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.

After a bomb brought down a Russian Metrojet flight over the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31, killing 224 people, the Transportation Security Administration introduced stricter screening in overseas airports that are the last point of departure for U.S.-bound flights.

"As the investigation and our own review of the crash proceeds, we will continually assess our aviation security enhancements, and consider whether additional changes are appropriate," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said at the time.

Russian officials said this week the jetliner was blown apart by a homemade bomb smuggled aboard.

In a video released Thursday, Islamic State operatives threatened to launch an attack on New York. In response, Mayor Bill de Blasio said there is no specific and credible threat, and the city "would not be intimidated."

The New York Police Department this week deployed the first 100 officers of a long-planned force of about 500 anti-terrorism officers called the Critical Response Command. The new force is headquartered on Randalls Island on the East River for quick access to three of the city's five boroughs.

A separate video released by Islamic State militants in Iraq after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris warned of attacks in Washington. Security already is tight in the nation's capital.

Al-Qaida, which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has sought to launch an attack on American soil since the 1990s. An offshoot, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, has repeatedly sought to bring down U.S. airliners.

Islamic State, which has eclipsed Al-Qaida, recently shifted its attention from seizing and controlling territory in Syria and Iraq, its self-declared caliphate, to actively plotting attacks against its foreign enemies, especially France, Russia and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The current intelligence assessments are in contrast to security alerts issued shortly before the Fourth of July weekend. At the time, U.S. security agencies picked up intelligence suggesting possible attacks and urged local police to be vigilant during parades, concerts and fireworks displays.

An estimated 25.3 million Americans will fly in the 12 days around Thanksgiving, according to Airlines for America, an airline trade association. That's 3 percent more than last year's holiday season and the highest number of passengers since 2007.

Each year, the holiday season stretches the capacity of airport screeners at the TSA. They face the challenge of preventing weapons and explosives from being taken on jets without delaying passengers.

During the 2010 Thanksgiving travel crush, passengers faced intrusive patdowns and body scans after a foiled attempt by Al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to hide makeshift bombs inside printer cartridges carried in the hold of passenger jets bound for Chicago.

The patdowns have since been scaled back in favor of new aviation security systems, including additional database checks of travel histories and more robust screening of cargo and baggage overseas.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "No specific threat to Thanksgiving travel, U.S. law enforcement officials say ."