Indicative of how things have changed over the last six
months, when the Olympic Games open in Utah in a month,
commercial air traffic at Salt Lake City International
Airport will be at a standstill. Surveillance planes will be
flying miles overhead as F-16 fighter jets remain on
constant alert nearby. Thousands of military troops will
patrol the streets. The security measures to be taken are
unprecedented.
After a bomb explosion at the Summer Games in Atlanta in
1996, the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and
a series of deadly anthrax exposures, the Salt Lake City
Games will be flooded with security personnel and visitors
will feel the security measures at nearly every turn.
Altogether, the federal government has committed nearly $400
million to the Games, more than half of it, $225 million,
for safety and security, according to a report in November
by the General Accounting Office.
The federal component and overall costs are so large in
dollars and personnel that Mitt Romney, president of the
organizing committee, questioned whether the United States
should remain in the business of being a host for the
Olympics.
Since 1972, when 11 Israeli athletes and officials were
killed in an attack at the Olympic village in Munich,
terrorism has been a constant source of worry for Olympics
officials. No other event brings together so many people
from so many nations in an arena of constant media
coverage.
This year, officials say they are not aware of specific
threats for the Games, to be held from Feb. 8 to 24. But
last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation notified
police agencies across the country to remain on high alert
through the Games and for two weeks after they end.
Although security has always been a priority at the modern
Olympics, the Utah Games were widely expected to be the most
secure, even before Sept. 11. Mistakes at the Atlanta Games,
in which federal, state and local agencies lacked a
coordinated response to the bomb, ensured an expanded
federal presence.
Secret Service agents will be used to secure all areas used
for Olympic events. In the past, their role was confined to
protecting the president and other dignitaries. The expanded
presence represents the federal government's largest
security investment, $27.2 million, according to the
government report.
For the first time in an Olympics in the United States --
this is the eighth since 1904 -- all law enforcement
agencies, as well as military commanders, will operate as
part of a unified Utah Olympic Public Safety Command.
In addition, military forces will be stationed in and around
the city. The commitment could reach up to 10,000 troops,
including more than 2,000 from the Utah National Guard, the
largest call-up ever in the state.
