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The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on Sunday issued a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies and private-sector owners of critical infrastructure facilities to prepare for a new wave of attacks after U.S. and British forces launched military strikes against terrorist targets in Afghanistan.

Attorney General John Ashcroft told a press briefing on Monday that warnings were issued through the National Threat Warning System, a network used by the FBI to communicate with law enforcement agencies around the country.

In addition to placing thousands of law enforcement officials on the highest state of alert, warnings are being extended to more than 27,000 corporate security officers at companies that own and operate systems such as telecommunication, banking and finance, railroads, water supply, transportation, and electric power facilities.

Warnings have also been issued to various private-sector Information Sharing and Analysis Centers that monitor and coordinate responses to cyberthreats, Ashcroft says.

Intelligence officials have told members of Congress that the likelihood of further attacks, either physical or online, is virtually certain.

A spokesperson for the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center says the warnings serve to encourage a "heightened awareness for security and safety of critical infrastructure systems in the aftermath of the September 11 bombings, and especially since the beginning of U.S. military strikes."

Critical infrastructure protection has taken center stage in the war against terrorism in the U.S., especially as the threat of new attacks against so-called high-value targets looms.

Security officials continue to express concern about the interdependent nature of the nation's critical infrastructure systems, warning that failures in one sector could lead to serious problems affecting many, if not all, other sectors of the economy.

"The cascading fallout from the tragic events of September 11th graphically makes the business case for critical infrastructure protection," says John Tritak, director of the U.S. Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, in a statement submitted on October 4 to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

"That the loss of telecommunications services can impede financial service transactions and delivery of electric power is no longer an exercise scenario. There can be no e-commerce without 'e'--electricity. There can be no e-commerce without e-communications," says Tritak in a written statement.

Although federal authorities and troops are being deployed to defend some critical facilities, such as nuclear power plants and water treatment facilities, the bulk of the national critical infrastructure facilities and networks are owned and operated by private companies.

And, "the federal government cannot post soldiers or police officers at the perimeters of telecommunications facilities or electric power plants to keep out digital attackers," Tritak told the Senate committee in his statement.

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush on Monday hosted a swearing-in ceremony at the White House, appointing former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as the new cabinet-level director of the Office of Homeland Security. Ridge is responsible for coordinating and managing the federal government's response to terrorist attacks in the U.S., including major terrorist-sponsored disruptions of critical cybersystems.

"We face new threats and therefore we need new defenses for our country," Bush said. "We face a united and determined enemy, we must have a united, determined response. In the war on terror, knowledge is power."

Ridge, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Marine, characterized the size and scope of the homeland defense challenge as "immense" and said it would require an unprecedented level of cooperation between the government the private sector. "Everyone in the homeland must play a part," said Ridge. "It calls for a national effort."