General accounting office (GAO) says 2006 winter olympics secuirty will be harder
The General Accounting Office (GAO) completed a wrap up of the 2004 Summer Olympic in Athens security procedures and found some interesting challenges with providing security to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
The whole GAO 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens report is located here.
Here is what the GAO says about the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin:
In planning for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, winter conditions and weather present a host of new and different challenges for U.S. security assistance. Winter Olympics are typically one-third the scale of the Summer Olympics, but venues are spread out over more land. Whereas the 2004 Summer Olympics were mostly centered in and around the Greek capital city, where the United States had a large embassy presence and infrastructure in place to provide administrative and logistical support for the U.S. security efforts, the 2006 Winter Games are located in the remote northwest corner of Italy. The nearest U.S. presence is the consulate in Milan, about a 90-minute drive from Turin. One Olympic Village will be in Turin, and two will be located in mountain towns up to 60 miles away, where certain sports—such as bobsled, luge, skiing, and snowboarding— will be located. Locating suitable lodging for U.S. security and support personnel near key venues is proving challenging. On-the-ground security details could prove problematic, as spectators wearing bulky winter apparel will hope to enter the venues with minimum wait outside in the cold, and traffic may clog roads leading to mountain venues.
They go onto say:
The threat framework surrounding the 2006 Winter Olympics remains largely the same. Italy has partnered with the United States in the war on terror, including the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and al Qaeda has named Italy as a target. In addition, Italy faced difficult security challenges at other major events, such as the meeting of the Group of Eight in Genoa in 2001, at which activists clashed violently with Italian police forces, and for the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005.
