NATO Tasked For Olympic Security

Greece asked NATO on Friday for help with Olympic security as authorities deployed bomb squads and dogs at railroad stations after the deadly bombings in Spain.

Greek officials previously had said that NATO allies would be on standby in case of a terrorist attack or other crises during the Aug. 13-29 Olympics.

But the formal written appeal for help apparently reflected heightened concerns and still further efforts to bolster an already unprecedented Olympic security network.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said Greece asked the alliance for help "mainly in areas of aerial surveillance, joint monitoring of seas and protection against a chemical, biological and nuclear incident."

It was not clear when NATO would reply, but top alliance officials have not hesitated to pledge assistance in the past.

"NATO can assist. NATO will assist. NATO is in a position to assist," alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last month in Athens.

Some NATO nations — France, Germany, Britain, Spain and the United States — are part of a seven-nation security advisory group working with Olympic planners. The other two countries are Israel and Australia.

U.S. and Greek forces also are taking part in a major security drill that wraps up later this month.

Defense Ministry sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that Greece will ask that NATO's Response Force and warships from NATO's standing Mediterranean fleet to take a direct security role for the games. The possible areas of responsibility was not immediately clear.

NATO's Response Force was established in October 2003 and is planned to have up to 22,000 personnel with joint air, maritime and land units.

"Authorities are taking all possible measures," said Col. Lefteris Ikonomou, Greek police spokesman.

According to authorities, special bomb squad units equipped with dogs were deployed at several major train stations in response to Wednesday's blasts in Madrid. Coast guard patrols were also intensified at "all ports of the country," a statement said.

"Because of the Olympics, it can happen here, right now," said Peter Simpson, division officer of London's Fire Brigade strategic coordination office for terrorism.

Simpson, who was in Athens for a two-day international terrorism conference, is one of several foreign experts helping Greek authorities with Olympic security preparations for possible chemical or biological attacks.

Plans to safeguard the games are the most expensive in Olympic history, costing more than $800 million — three times higher than Sydney's security budget four years ago.

Measures planned in Athens include more than 50,000 police and soldiers, more than 1,400 security cameras and aerial surveillance by helicopters, a blimp and AWACS aircraft. A no-fly zone will be imposed around Olympic venues and other sites.

Greece is also putting together a 200-member team for biochemical or other attacks, but Fire Brigade officer Michalis Halaris said some of the gear is still to be delivered.

The bombing attacks in Spain — which killed about 200 people and injured more than 1,400 — were discussed Wednesday at a meeting of Greek military chiefs.

"The fact that nothing has happened in Greece, doesn't mean that it will not happen," said Theodoros Kallitsis, assistant professor of criminology at the Greek Police Academy. "No matter how many guards and cameras you will place, the terrorist will still strike."

Greece faces not only the worldwide threat from al Qaeda but also a homegrown worry in the November 17 group, a radical leftist organization that has been weakened last year's conviction of 15 leaders.

The group's victims include four American envoys, a CIA station chief, two Turkish diplomats and prominent Greek political and business figures.

Past Olympic games have twice been the target of terrorist attacks. In September 1972, members of the Black September organization, a militant Palestinian group, took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage at the Olympic village in Munich. In a rescue attempt, all the hostages, five terrorists and a policeman died.

On July 27, 1996, a bomb in a backpack at Centennial Olympic Park exploded and killed one woman.