Official: E-mail threat targeted person

Jace Radke

Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

An e-mail sent from Carson City to the White House during the recent high terror alert threatened an individual, not Las Vegas or another Nevada city, state Homeland Security Adviser Jerry Bussell said.

Bussell said that the e-mail, which was sent to the White House before Dec. 31, is being investigated by the state Department of Public Safety.

"There were no specific actionable threats that were made against Las Vegas or Nevada during the elevated alert level," Bussell said. "We get things like this e-mail, and you have to take a look at them.

"It was a threat made against an individual, not Las Vegas."

Bussell said he couldn't comment more specifically on the e-mail or who was threatened because it was part of the ongoing investigation.

Greg Bortolin, Gov. Kenny Guinn's spokesman, said that the e-mail did mention Las Vegas and Carson City, but seemed to focus more on the state capital.

"It was directed at state government," said Bortolin, who added he didn't think the threat had anything to do with the New Year's celebration in Las Vegas.

The anonymous e-mail was made public by Gov. Kenny Guinn on Thursday during a question-and-answer session after a speech to the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

He said the threat came from within the United States and was not linked to the terrorist group al-Qaida. Guinn said there are threats of more "Timothy McVeighs," and he said even small towns had to be vigilant.

"The most serious threat that we got was to a very small city that went all the way to the White House," Guinn said.

Bortolin said that Guinn was trying to make the point that there were no specific threats against Las Vegas as he answered questions after his speech.

Bortolin said that state officials were notified of the e-mail about a week ago by the White House, and that he wasn't surprised that it took a little while to get the information because of the amount of e-mail the White House receives.

Bussell said that every bit of information that comes in to him, the FBI and local and state law enforcement is scrutinized for threats.

"You look at them all, but they don't always rise to a credible level," Bussell said.

FBI officials said that they had no information of any specific or credible threats against Las Vegas or any other city or town in Nevada.

On Thursday Guinn said there is always the chance that there are other McVeighs who want to hurt the United States. McVeigh was convicted in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people. McVeigh was put to death for the crime. His accomplice, Terry Nichols, whose family lives in the Las Vegas area, is serving a term of life in prison.

The country was put on high alert on Dec. 21, and high-profile cities around the country -- including Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York -- beefed up security at public New Year's Eve parties and at venues such as airports.

The Homeland Security Department lowered the threat level to yellow, or elevated, on Jan. 9, and Metro Police and other agencies followed suit lowering the local threat level to yellow.

Although not at high, or level orange, McCarran International Airport and other major airports around the county continue to take additional security precautions.