An Olympian effort to protect The Games
Early next month, scores of athletes representing more than 80 nations will march into Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium to the thundering cheers of spectators. On that evening, and in the days that follow, more than 1.5 million spectators — and hundreds of millions more watching the events on television — will witness some of the best athletic competition the world has to offer. From downhill skiing and figure skating to bobsledding and ice hockey, men and women will push their bodies and skills to the limit.
Amid the pageantry, and largely unseen, another Olympian effort will be taking place. The 2002 Winter Olympic Games will be guarded by one of the most elaborate security systems the world has ever seen. If all goes according to plan — and those intricate calculations have been years in the making — the security endeavor will avoid making headlines.
Since 1972, when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by Arab terrorists at the Munich Olympics, the threat of disaster has hung over the games. The threat is even greater for the 2002 games in light of the recent terrorist attacks and the subsequent U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
Yet, even before terrorists hijacked four airplanes and killed thousands of people in New York; Washington, D.C.; and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government had classified the games as a national security event. A Presidential Directive designates the Secret Service as the leader in a security strategy that involves governmental agencies ranging from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Department of Defense to local and state police forces.
“That strategy is very straightforward,” says Fraser Bullock, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC). “It is to have a secure perimeter around all of our venues. That’s where we invest most of our security assets. We also have law enforcement personnel inside the venue, but that need is less, given a secure perimeter.”
Bullock serves on the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command (UOPSC), which is composed of representatives from all agencies involved in Olympic security. The organization promotes interagency cooperation, and it reviews security plans formulated by the Secret Service. Just as athletes have spent long hours training in the months and years leading up to the games, security personnel have devoted long hours to developing the security plan that will keep everyone safe.
The threat of terrorism in the Olympics is only part of the security problem. “I’ve had to remind myself many times over the year that terrorism is only one of many concerns,” says Bill Rathburn, a security consultant. “The concerns cover the spectrum from the very basic up to very sophisticated threats to the security of the games. It goes all the way down to street crime, burglaries in hotel rooms, and just everything. You can’t leave anything uncovered or unprotected.”
Learning the rules of the games
Over the years, security approaches have evolved. Each Olympic city passes along what it has learned to the next organizing committee. Each location has been a test run for new techniques and improved equipment.
Years ago, security measures were aimed at protecting only the athletes in the Olympic Village, then they were expanded to protect the venues. Since the 1996 Atlanta bombing, which occurred in an area outside an Olympic venue, Olympic officials have extended protection to public spaces.
With the expansion of territory comes an expansion of the security budget. The federal government has allocated $234.5 million for security in Salt Lake City. (It provided $98 million for security in Atlanta.) Additionally, Utah and the SLOC each have budgeted $35 million for security. The money will cover the expenses of restricting airspace over Olympic venues; providing plainclothes federal agents, 7,000 law enforcement personnel and 3,000 national guardsmen at venues and other buildings; and installing metal detectors and surveillance equipment.
Metal detectors first made their debut during the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Following the U.S. boycott of the Moscow games four years earlier, officials were wary of the dangers that might be lurking in the crowds. Memories of the deadly terrorist attack in Munich also were still fresh.
The 1992 Barcelona Games marked the first time that security was expanded from the Olympic Village to the competitive venues, when officials began hand-scanning spectators. In Atlanta, walkthrough metal detectors made their debut, and Salt Lake City will have approximately 500 of the units.
The primary goal of security measures is to allow the Games to go on unfettered, while at the same time, to keep trouble out. “You could have absolute security, but [you would] not have any events or spectators,” Rathburn says. Rathburn served as director of security during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and headed Olympic security for the Los Angeles Police Department during the 1984 Summer Games in that city.
“The most significant difference between the ’84 Olympics and the ’96 Olympics was the use of security technology,” Rathburn says. “The fact that there had been significant improvements in technology in that period allowed us to do things we could not have done in L.A. There’s no question that this rapid development of technology is one of the things that helps the security planners provide a higher level of security. There’s still a need for a lot of people, but I think electronic security minimizes the need for people. It allows you to maximize the effectiveness of the people you do deploy. You can do things like alarm assessment, without dispatching someone every time.”
Using proper equipment
More so than in any previous Games, Salt Lake City will be taking a high-tech security approach. Cameras, metal detectors and sophisticated software will monitor everyone who enters Olympic events.
Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sensormatic Electronics will provide security to Team USA and its three training venues in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Lake Placid, N.Y.; and Chula Vista, Calif. The company is installing more than 300 dome cameras at indoor and outdoor venues. The cameras have built-in heaters and fog eliminating blowers to maintain clear views in extreme temperatures.
The company also is installing fixed cameras that will transmit images back to a central command center via fiber-optic lines installed by Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies and Denver-based Qwest Communications. The cameras will allow personnel to monitor venues, including the underground refrigeration equipment at the speed skating oval, remotely from a central location.
In addition to the field surveillance and digital transmission and recording technology, the company also has installed its C-CURE access control system in the headquarters for the Organizing Committee. The badging system will monitor more than 3,000 employees for the Olympic committee.
Each day during the Games, thousands of spectators will pass through the 10 competition venues and non-competition areas such as the Medals Plaza. Each time a person enters, he or she will be scanned by metal detectors provided by Garland, Texas-based Garrett Metal Detectors. The units are so accurate that they can pinpoint where an offending object is located on a body.
“We’re using, in some cases, what we call pinpoint magnetometers,” Bullock says. “When someone goes through a mag and sets it off, it’s time-consuming to use a wand to find what set it off. That slows down your flow-through rate. So we have the pinpoint magnetometers that will highlight electronically where the strike was on the magnetometer.”
Developing effective security is critical, but officials agree that metal detectors and guards with hand scanners should be low-key so as not to detract from the Games. “This is a sporting event. It’s not a security event,” Bullock says. “Within that context, we obviously need excellent security. When we’re at a venue, we have the perimeter considerably removed from the field of play, from the grandstands and the concession stands. Once you’re in the perimeter, you can enjoy the festive atmosphere of the Olympics without seeing the fences and [security] components. Then we decorate. If we have a fence, we put the look of the Games on it to create a festive atmosphere.”
Experts say the type of spectator who attends an Olympic event almost never poses any threat. Many are business people, sponsors, families of athletes, or fans who have spent considerable money to attend the events. Few of them are looking for trouble.
“You don’t have a lot of small problems, but you have the potential for some very big problems,” Rathburn says. “Metal detectors interfere with the whole process [of admitting spectators], but people are increasingly tolerant of them. People recognize the need for security. If it is, in fact, an invasion of privacy, then they’re willing to give up a small part of their privacy to improve their physical security.”
Officials agree that, ultimately, it is impossible to secure every area. While trained security and high-tech devices can prevent a terrorist from entering secured areas, there is always another target just outside the protective circle. Today, however, that circle is bigger and better protected than at any time in the Olympics’ long and distinguished history.
Randy Southerland is an Atlanta-based freelance writer.
This article is reprinted with permission of Access Control & Security Systems Integration (www.securitysolutions.com), a sister publication of American City & County. It has been edited to conform to ACC style and space requirements.
