My imagination was fired (!) by reports in the media that in the case of attack, ground-to-air missiles will be deployed to protect the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games venues. Reading this immediately conjured up a vision of Usain Bolt breaking the 100m WR in the Olympic stadium while a series of heat seeking rockets head skywards from somewhere very close by: a neat mixture , one might say, of Independence Day and Chariots of Fire - both record-breaking films too in their day. (One of the more facetious of my colleagues has just suggested that Wenlock and Mandeville feature on the missiles but we’ll draw a veil over that).

 It’s obviously no joke though, if security measures such as these are being envisaged, and if the United States team is indeed bringing with it something like 1000 protective agents, including 500 from the FBI (according to the Guardian 14-11.11). More surprising to me is that as early as 1996, surface to air missiles were available for use at Atlanta (ie pre 9/11), and the Beijing authorities were also ready to use weapons of this kind to maintain the safety of athletes and spectators in 2008.

 As events have proved, there are practically no limits to what terrorism can achieve - it’s a hydra headed monster, and therein lies its strength. Security forces nowadays are consequently obliged to guard against a huge range of potential threats, from the very smallest incidents like hoax bomb scares to full on military assaults, with the possibility of a missile launch in retaliation. One of the most insidious threats though is something that military hardware won’t be able to resolve and that’s the possibility of cyber attacks.

 The BBC reported in October that computer experts will be running a series of tests on the Games computer systems early next year in order to see how they would cope with a major cyber attack at Games time. Apparently China suffered almost 12 million per day during the Beijing Games, and a number of high profile organisations – including the IOC – have been hit by malware. It’s not surprising that terrorists seek out mega events and organisations as targets. Why wouldn’t they, given the PR impact?

 It is impossible to estimate at this point just how much the total bill for security will be, but efforts to combat all these threats will reap some rewards in advancing our understanding of how to manage the security of mega events, from their computer systems to public safety.

References 

London 2012: a safe and secure Games for all.

[London] : Home Office, c2011.

London reference collections shelfmark: OPA.2011.x.686