Although there may be increased security and not as many official activities during the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games, Salt Lake City Olympic (SLOC) organizers may not be prepared for suspicious substances at Olympic venues.
It might be as harmless as talcum powder or as dangerous as a biological weapon such as anthrax sent by a prankster or a terrorist.
Such an incident resulting in the evacuation and screening of thousands of people is perhaps the most difficult security issue facing Olympic organizers and the agencies working to protect the 2002 Games.
Mitt Romney, chief executive officer of SLOC, said, “I can’t tell you how a venue reacts to every possible action. No one in the security world will predict what to do in speculative circumstances”.
Romney must rely on both increased security put into place since the Sept. 11 attacks and a history of past unfulfilled threats to the Olympics having been called in rather than made on site.
At the same time, he acknowledges that past experience may be useless given the nature of the recent terrorism against the U.S. especially the use of anthrax-contaminated mail.
