Dave Tubbs, executive director of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command said, “we still want to rely on the human factor. You cannot substitute technology for people. Technology only benefits people”.
Security officials believe that trendy technology may work most times but not all the time.
Tubbs, the former special agent in charge of the FBI, who handled the Atlanta bombing incident, is overseeing the security group manned by the Secret Service, the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Tubbs vetoed using face-recognition software, retina scans and fingerprint readers when building his arsenal to secure Olympic venues in Salt Lake City. He said, “our objective is to keep things out of the venue. And my experience shows that it’s not reliable.”
SchlumbergerSema, the New York-based I.T. firm, is also being conservative. The network, which will house accreditation data, the Games’ scoring system, and Olympic Village information, will not be accessible on wireless networks because of fears that signals could be intercepted.
Even e-mail is restricted, so that unauthorized use of the Internet while on the Olympic computer networks won’t let in hackers.
But although much of the security plans are being kept secret; cameras, motion detectors, metal detectors and even night-vision goggles will be used. Also, radiological scans taken of the Salt Lake City area before the Games will make it easier to find threats during the Games. Any spike on a scan during the event could indicate a problem.
