New Orleans officials say they are challenging the federal threat level assigned to upcoming Sugar Bowl and New Year’s Eve festivities, urging the kind of Super Bowl-caliber protection that stayed through Mardi Gras after the Jan. 1 mass killing on Bourbon Street.
Collin Arnold, the city’s homeland security director, said Friday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave New Year’s Eve and the Sugar Bowl a “pretty low rating” of “SEAR 3.”
That level releases limited federal support, according to Arnold, compared to the “extensive federal interagency support” unleashed for major national events deemed SEAR 1…