A Brief Overview of Technical and Organisational Security at Olympic Events

In July 2005, London was awarded the right to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The decision of the International Olympic Committee triggered considerable public enthusiasm across the UK. At the same time, it also created a host of logistical and technical challenges. Amongst these the first concern is to ensure the safety and security of competitors and of the public. This paper reviews the assets that are vulnerable to attack during Olympic events. These include spectators, participants, sponsors, Games infrastructure, the infrastructure of the host nation and security teams themselves. Later sections review the different threats against these assets, including malicious attacks from organized groups through to spontaneous actions by disaffected individuals. This analysis is based on a detailed survey of incidents at previous Games. The survey is also used to identify some of the constraints that affect security during the Olympics. It is difficult to apply risk-based approaches to guide the allocation of security resources. Further problems arise from the time constraints that all recent games have operated under. Delays in construction and funding together with the perceived need to use the most advanced technology combine to limit the time that is available to verify and validate security measures. Similarly, the increasing need to coordinate diverse national and international agencies can increase communications overheads and may lead to break down in passing on key intelligence prior to the Games. The closing sections address some of these problems. Computer simulation techniques can be used early in planning when there is some prospect of affecting the detailed layout of key sites. They can also be used closer to the Games, as training tools to rehearse key tactics and standard operating procedures before live drills can be conducted.