As the 2014 Winter Games get underway in Sochi, the White House says the U.S. intelligence community is focused on any possible threats targeting the Olympics.

Speaking to reporters at a briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the uptick in threat reporting surrounding the games is of concern - but not unusual.

On Wednesday, the United States issued a warning to airports and some airlines flying to Russia for the Olympics to watch for toothpaste tubes that could hold ingredients to make a bomb on a plane.

"Over the years, certainly since 9-11, there have been many threats to aviation that have resulted in us sharing information with airlines and our job has always been to provide information to our partners so that, collaboratively, we can best mitigate the threat, and we're doing so again in this case," Carney said during the briefing.