Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that information obtained during FBI interviews of people who knew the hijackers indicated Atlanta had been chosen for an attack.

Authorities said they were still developing leads, and declined to be more specific about whether the threat continued.

The disclosure about the Georgia capital came as the government identified the dead hijackers, and investigators said they are searching for 100 people they want to question in connection with this week's terrorist attacks.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, declined to discuss what he had learned from intelligence briefings but said Atlanta was a likely target and that other cities may remain in danger.

''Atlanta is a big transportation hub, the largest in the United States, the busiest airport in the United States. It would have to be a target for any terrorist effort,'' Shelby said.

''You've got to assume there was probably more planned, maybe for the aftershock,'' Shelby added.

He praised authorities for immediately closing airports Tuesday but added, ''Even if they lie low for a few weeks, that doesn't mean they won't come back, because they will; they will until we destroy them.''

Officials in Georgia met with FBI officials and were prepared to take any precautions necessary. A spokeswoman for Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes said the governor has been briefed regularly since Tuesday by all law enforcement and disaster agencies in charge of protecting the state.

''As those briefings show any need to take any kind of action, he will work ... to take the proper steps,'' said the governor's spokeswoman, Joselyn Butler.

No arrests have been made so far in the investigation, named Pentbomb, of the worst act of terrorism ever on U.S. soil.

A list of more than 100 people has been distributed to thousands of local police departments, the Federal Aviation Administration, border patrols and FBI field offices, said Attorney General John Ashcroft.

''We believe they may have information that could be helpful to the investigation,'' said Ashcroft.

Federal officials wouldn't say whether the 100 names include suspects in the plot to crash four jetliners Tuesday.

The FBI on Friday released the names of 19 hijackers who commandeered and brought down the planes. Many lived in Florida and several had gone to pilot training school in Venice, Fla.

Among the 19 was Mohamed Atta, 33, of Hollywood and Coral Springs, Fla., identified by German authorities as being tied to an Islamic fundamentalist group that planned attacks on American targets. The Justice Department said Atta was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 that took off from Boston's Logan Airport and crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

All the hijackers had Middle Eastern names. FBI Director Bob Mueller would not comment on whether any of the hijackers were associated Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who administration official believe is behind the attacks.

Investigators are focused on several locations within the U.S., including Florida, where several of the hijackers lived and attended flight training school. A half dozen of the 19 hijackers lived in Delray Beach, Fla.

Federal authorities have launched a massive search for individuals who assisted the hijackers, believing that there may have been a vast network of people who plotted and carried out Tuesday's attack. FBI Deputy Director Tom Pickard is leading the investigation.

Hundreds of subpoenas have been issued, over 30 search warrants have been searched and investigators have seized computers and other documents.

Investigators also recovered voice and data recorders from the plane that smashed into the Pentagon and the data recorder from the flight that crashed near Pittsburgh. Mueller said the data recorders for the Pentagon flight had yielded some information, but the voice recordings for the flight had yielded nothing so far.

The FBI has a transcript of communications between the pilots and air traffic controllers for a portion of the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania, officials said.

Ashcroft appealed to the public for information about the 19 persons identified as hijackers on the four planes by calling 1-866-483-5137. The Justice Department had originally said there were 18 hijackers, but then ascertained that five hijackers, not four, were on American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon.

Besides Atta, the hijackers who were believed to be pilots were:

-Hani Hajour, who was on the flight that crashed into the Pentagon.

-Two other hijackers from one of the Boston flights, Wail Alshehri and Abdulaziz Alomari.

-Marwan Al-Shehhi who was on United Flight 175 out of Boston, which crashed into the south tower of the Trade Center.

-Ziad Jarrahi, who flew on United Flight 93 out of Newark, N.J., which crashed in a field 80 miles from Pittsburgh.

The FBI dispatched teams of agents to airports, where authorities are supposed to be checking passenger lists against the list of 100 people wanted for questioning.

It's not clear how well the system is working. Two men of Middle Eastern descent who were on the list were not detected until they had already boarded a jet in New York Thursday. Armed agents approached them - one man, traveling with a women, cooperated with agents, was questioned and released. The second man refused to cooperate and was taken off the plane and questioned. It's not clear whether he was released.

Several other people of Middle Eastern descent were detained and questioned at New York airports on Thursday. They were cleared and released but one person who was carrying a fake pilot's license was detained, Justice Department officials said.