Weather 
Washington — As cities and towns across the U.S. prepare for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations, local, state and national law enforcement agencies are on the lookout for potential threats — concerns that are heightened in the wake of the recent Bondi Beach terror attack in Australia and the deadly attack on last year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Lone actors and small groups with a range of ideological motives pose the most significant threat to New Year’s Eve celebrations, according to a joint bulletin from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security reviewed by CBS News.
The assessment, which is done routinely ahead of large public gatherings, notes there is no specific, credible threat this holiday. But the bulletin describes the persistent risk of small groups of people “seeking to commit acts of violence motivated by a broad range of racial, ethnic, political, religious, anti-government, anti-immigration, societal or ideological beliefs and grievances.”
In New York City, the NYPD has been working on security for the Times Square area since last year’s festivities, said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. There are “no known specific credible threats” to the celebration, Tisch said Wednesday, but the public should expect to see “thousands” of NYPD officers in the area.
Intelligence teams will also be monitoring social media for threats, Tisch said. Times Square is expecting more than a million visitors from around the world, she noted, making it “one of the largest and the most complex safety operations anywhere in the world.”
In Las Vegas, Andrew Walsh, undersheriff for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told reporters at a news conference this week that the National Guard will be present in Vegas, as they have been in years past.
Recent memory serves as a sobering reminder of how critical it is for law enforcement to be vigilant.
Earlier this month, the FBI announced it had foiled an alleged New Year’s Eve bombing plot in Southern California. The four people who face charges in the alleged plot are members of a group known as the Turtle Island Liberation Front. Attorney General Pam Bondi described the organization as a “far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group.”
Hundreds of National Guard troops have deployed to New Orleans one year after the devastating New Year’s Day attack there, at the request of Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. On Jan. 1, 2025, investigators say Shamsud-Din Jabba rammed a pickup truck into the crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people and leaving many more injured in an act of terror. The FBI said the attacker, a U.S. Army veteran, was radicalized by ISIS.
