US to send 500 FBI agents to protect its athletes at London 2012

Nick Hopkins and Richard Norton-Taylor
Guardian
November 14, 2011

The US has raised repeated concerns about security at the London Olympics and is preparing to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to provide protection for America’s contestants and diplomats, the Guardian has learned.

American officials have expressed deep unease that the UK has had to restrict the scope of anti-terrorism “stop and search” powers, and have sought a breakdown of the number of British police and other security personnel that will be available next summer.

The prime minister and other senior members of the cabinet, including home secretary Theresa May and culture and sport secretary Jeremy Hunt, are taking turns to chair security meetings about the Olympics, which are often dominated by the latest questions from the US, sources said. But Washington’s need for reassurance is exasperating British officials and anti-terrorism officials, who have privately raised concerns about the meddling, as well as the size of the US “footprint” in the UK during the games next year.

“We are not equal partners in this,” said one security official. “They are being very demanding.”

Read full report here

 

This article was posted: Monday, November 14, 2011 at 5:54 am

---

---

---

---