2012 Olympics: Anti-Terror Operations In London Won’t Be Intrusive – OpEd
By Jim Kouri
The Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games in London assured participants and visitors that the military and police anti-terror operations won’t interfere with the games, and that all “foreign tourists would be welcomed with open arms.”
The Chairman, Lord Coe, also promised that all the recent declarations on troops and military deployments would be executed in a proportional as well as balanced manner.
“There has to be proportionality here. You don`t want people coming to London thinking they`ve walked into a siege city, being filmed every 20 paces they take and being bundled off pavements,” said Coe.“There is no appetite for risk. Everybody knows this is a complex, complicated world and this is a big global city. But we also want people to come here and leave feeling they’ve had an extraordinary time and want to come back,” he stated.
Coe said that he doesn’t wish anyone — athletes, staff or spectators — to return home with a “sour taste in their mouths.” Instead he wants those who visit London during the Games to return in the future.
The Yanks Are Coming
The Obama Administration is prepared to deploy 1000 security agents to the 2012 Olympic Games in London as a result of terrorists — both foreign and homegrown — who may be planning a surprise attack. The London Olympic Games will be held beginning on July 27, 2012 to August 12, 2012.
According to a source in Washington, well over 500 FBI agents as well as federal law enforcement officers from other U.S. agencies will be sent to Britain in order to provide security for the athletes, dignitaries, diplomats and other high-profile targets during the Summer Games.
The Law Enforcement Examiner’s source in Washington, DC, claims the U.S. government’s national security experts are suspicious of the British government handcuffing law enforcement and security forces.
“Giving into political correctness, the British cops are restricted in carrying out “stop and frisk” procedures. In fact, some London officials are unhappy over having foreign police providing security in their city,” said the source.
The FBI’s international law enforcement activities focus on one other key element — international training. Through international training, the FBI provides foreign law enforcement officers with skills in both basic and advanced investigative techniques and principles that promote cooperation and aid in the collection of evidence.
Training allows the FBI to demonstrate major crime scene, counterterrorism, and other investigative techniques, while establishing better working relationships, thus strengthening cooperation among law enforcement personnel worldwide. Funded by the Department of State or Department of Defense, significant training programs include the International Law Enforcement Academies, as well as bilateral training programs targeting anti-terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorist financing.
A British official anonymously told the BBC that “the Americans are risk-averse, with a capital ‘A’ and underlined. They want to see everything … They want to be on top of everything — building protection, counterterrorism strategy and VIP security — everything.”
Asked about the size of the US security task force being deployed to London in 2012, the official told the BBC, “They [Americans] don’t do things by halves.”
The reported friction between the U.S. and British officials is further complicated by Olympic Games officials recently admitting that they underestimated the number of security personnel required more than three dozen sites.
They originally believed 10,000 men and women would be sufficient. Now they claim they require at least 22,000.
