About 1,900 Utah National Guard members will be activated to help with security at the Salt Lake Winter Games. It’s the largest guard deployment in Utah’s history.
Other Utah Guard members have already been activated for airport security and counter-terrorism.
The troops three main missions will include screening vehicles and visitors at Olympic venues, standing perimeter guard duty at the venues and providing a rapid deployment force in the event of a crisis. The troops screening visitors at venue entrances likely won’t be armed.
In addition to the National Guard troops, a regular military group, called the Joint Task Force-Olympics, will be providing security.
Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, commander of the Guard, said the force has been boosted from 1,500 to nearly 2,000.
Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt said he announced the activation now to give the Guard members’ families and employers time to prepare for their deployment.
The Games’ vast computer network will have it’s own security team, assembled by SchumbergerSema, which is responsible for making sure all of the different components in the system work well together.
SLOC has also turned to Salt Lake City network security company Satel to help it install software and hardware to stymie attackers.
The security setup is made up of three main parts; firewalls and anti-virus software to protect the system, an intrusion detection system to alert operators when someone tries to break in, and a response team that goes out and fixes whatever might get interrupted by a hacker.
And its anti-virus software will be updated twice a day, and even more frequently closer to the Games.
On a lighter note, it’s been announced that SLOC has commissioned Oscar winner John Williams to compose the official theme of the Salt Lake 2002 Games. Williams has composed themes for the 1984, l988 and 1996 Summer Games.
Emmy Award winner Mark Watters has been named the music director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and Grammy Award winner David Foster, film composer Michael Kamen and songwriter Robbie Robertson will compose the music to be played during the ceremonies.
The Utah Symphony, conducted by Keith Lockhart; and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, directed by Dr. Craig D. Jessop will perform the ceremonies’ music.
