Romney puts light on Oly security

WASHINGTON — Remember the Salt Lake Olympics' long checkpoint lines, its miles of fences and armies of security agents? Former Olympics chief Mitt Romney says something unseen was far more important to make it safe: sleuthing and intelligence.

He told the Senate on Tuesday that no amount of barricades and agents "can prevent truly determined terrorists" from attacking, but intelligence allows "finding the bad guys before they attack."

Romney, now the governor of Massachusetts, put that at the top of a list of lessons learned from the Salt Lake Olympics as a Senate Commerce subcommittee held a hearing on whether security is adequate for the upcoming Athens Olympics.

"It is impossible to harden every target — even the Olympic venues," Romney testified. "In the end, our best offense was to know about a possible attack on a venue . . . before it happened. Good intelligence, effectively shared and utilized, was critical."

However, Romney said he could not describe in a public hearing more details about intelligence gathering methods used in Salt Lake City, or what they may have stopped. (However, the subcommittee later held a closed, classified session, during which it could have discussed some of that — and details of Athens security — with federal law officials.)

Romney and others said security plans for the Athens Games appear robust. "It is clear they are spending the money. They are asking for help," Romney said.

Athens plans to spend about $1.2 billion on security, compared to an estimated $310 million spent in Utah.

"I can tell you there is a transfer of knowledge" from past Olympics, and Greek security officials were in Salt Lake City during its Olympics to learn firsthand, said Mark Camillio, who was the Olympics security coordinator for the Secret Service in Salt Lake City.

Still, nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis appeared before the committee to ask the U.S. government to do all it can to assist Greece. "Please do everything within your power to ensure that the greatest level of security is available for the Olympics in Athens," he said.

But he also said he wanted to tell world athletes that, based on his experience, "You will be competing in an environment that has the highest level of security ever provided to an Olympic competition."

Steven Lopez, a gold medalist in Taekwondo, testified he doubts any athletes will pass up the Olympics for fear of terrorism, despite such speculation.