Cloud Over the Holidays

As the year-end holidays draw closer, the government has increased its warnings about possible terrorist acts both in the United States and abroad. President Clinton advises Americans to enjoy the Christmas and New Year’s festivities but keep an eye open for anything that looks suspicious. Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Holder says that while the Justice Department has no knowledge of any particular plots, special vigilance from now through mid-January is in order. And the FBI, acting on an unconfirmed tip and “out of an abundance of caution,” tells Americans to be careful about opening small parcels sent from Frankfurt, Germany. They might contain bombs.

The vagueness of the warnings is not very helpful, though it’s probably the best the government can do. Clearly there’s a compelling suspicion among federal officials that anti-American terrorism looms as a real possibility in coming weeks. Probably that suspicion comes from credible if unspecific intelligence. Last week’s arrest of an Algerian as he tried to smuggle bomb-making material across the border from British Columbia and this week’s arrest of two people at the Canada-Vermont border who have been linked to an Algerian terrorist group have heightened concerns.

The December holidays and the coincidence of millennial celebrations offer a tempting opportunity to terrorists, always on the lookout for spectacular settings for their acts. That’s why law enforcement authorities are being especially vigilant at airports, and why the major public New Year’s festivities, in Washington, D.C., and New York, among other places, will be saturated with police and other security agents.

This probably means some inconvenience and delay for air travelers and perhaps some dampening of revelry, but that’s a small enough price to pay in an effort to assure safety. The holidays may well pass without a single incident that can be linked to terrorism. But the government would be irresponsible if it failed to alert the public to the potential threat and to respond to that threat with tightened security at the nation’s airports and borders.