Uneasy Athens fixates on security

ATHENS, Greece -- Four months before thousands of world-class athletes and legions of spectators descend here for the Summer Olympics, the Greek authorities, already on the defensive because of delays in completing sporting sites, are confronting renewed fears about security at the Games.

The Spanish terror bombings last month unnerved this ancient capital and contributed to the Greek government's decision to request NATO help during the Olympics. The alliance is expected to deploy ships and AWACS surveillance planes to patrol the Greek coastline and airspace, and to provide other help to protect against chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.

Officials here, hoping to put to rest their country's reputation as lax on terrorism, have repeatedly declared that the Games will be safe and noted that they are spending nearly $1 billion on a security operation that is by far the costliest and most extensive in Olympic history. International Olympic officials, who monitor but do not control security, have said they have confidence in the preparations.

The government plans to deploy more than 55,000 police officers and military personnel in Athens and around the country, with a particular focus on roughly 70 sporting and tourism sites, like the main Olympic stadium and large hotels. The government has relied heavily on officials and private experts from an advisory group of nations -- the United States, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Israel and Spain.

Both the FBI and the CIA have been involved in the planning, officials here said, and the U.S. Department of Energy is supplying millions of dollars in radiation detectors to help ward off any attack by a so-called dirty bomb.

The U.S. ambassador in Athens, Thomas J. Miller, has been in constant contact with Greek officials about security. In an interview, Miller described the arrangements as "a work in progress," declining to offer a more detailed evaluation. Other American officials here said they had seen nothing in recent weeks that would cause them to recommend that athletes or tourists skip the Games. In fact, the elder Bush is planning to lead the delegation to the Olympics, Bush's office said.

Last month, 1,500 Greek police officers and soldiers, joined by hundreds of American Special Forces troops and personnel from other nations, held a two-week exercise to train for what was described as "catastrophic scenarios," including suicide bombings, chemical and biological attacks and plane hijackings.

Two senior officials from nations advising the Greeks said the exercise had revealed some problems, especially involving coordination and communication, but said they believed that the Greeks could surmount them.

The Greek minister of public order, George A. Voulgarakis, acknowledged the problems in an interview on Tuesday, but said that they were to be expected. "We had to correct many things," Voulgarakis said. "That is what the exercises are for. You do things, you see the weaknesses, you correct things, you go on."

He said he had no doubt that preparations were proceeding well. "Everybody that is going to come here is going to be safe and secure," he said.

Still, this is the first Summer Games since the Sept. 11 attacks, and they are taking place in a country that has long and porous borders and coastline, close proximity to the Middle East and a history of popular sentiment against Washington.

Even before the railway bombings in Spain, some senior American officials had voiced misgivings about the Games. In February, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is the chairman of a Senate subcommittee on terrorism, said he would not feel safe at them and would instead watch them on television.

No prominent athletes have withdrawn from the Olympics over security issues, but some, including the tennis star Serena Williams, have expressed anxiety about attending. The U.S. team will have its own security force of 100 to 110 agents, mostly from the FBI, and special security arrangements are being made for the American area in the Olympic village.

In recent weeks, the problems with the Olympic infrastructure -- many sites are not finished, and plans for a roof on the swimming pool were recently scrapped -- have amplified the safety concerns.

The delays have not only raised questions about the competence of the Greek government and Greek Olympic committee, but have also made it more difficult to assess security.

Contractors cannot install surveillance cameras without walls on which to affix them, and police officers cannot familiarize themselves with all the nooks and crannies where terrorists might lurk while the venues are still construction sites.

Voulgarakis, the public order minister, dismissed such concerns, saying that construction would be completed far enough in advance to allow for proper training.

Greece is no stranger to terrorism. For years, a left-wing homegrown group called November 17 conducted attacks with seeming impunity; among its victims were four Americans. In a report in 2000, the State Department described Greece as "one of the weakest links in Europe's efforts against terrorism."

Greece went after the November 17 group in 2002, and many of its members are now in jail. Yet even recently there have been minor attacks by what are considered fringe elements. Last month, a group calling itself Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for planting a crude bomb, later defused, at a Citibank here. The group cited NATO involvement in Olympic security as one motive for the attack.

Voulgarakis said the group was insignificant and would not create trouble during the Olympics. Since the crackdown on the November 17 group, he said, "we do not have local terrorist groups here anymore."

Shadowing the planning for any Olympics is the memory of the Palestinian terrorist attacks at the Munich Games in 1972, in which 11 Israelis were killed. But Greek officials and experts said they were acutely aware that even a relatively minor incident could tarnish the Athens Olympics. They point out that American security could not prevent the bombing at the Olympic Park during the Atlanta Games in 1996, which killed one person.

Mary Bossis, a Greek terrorism expert who teaches at the School of National Defense, said that especially after the attacks in Spain, she was certain that the Greek authorities understood the challenges of securing the Olympics.

"Spain mobilized a lot of people," she said. "Everyone was in shock."

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