Vancouver View -- Obama to Olympics? Games Security

Obama to Vancouver 2010 Games?

The new U.S. ambassador to Canada gave a strong hint on Nov. 30 that President Barack Obama would come to Vancouver 2010.

“I don't say this very often, but I'm looking forward to snow,” said David Jacobson, a veteran Chicago lawyer who was posted to Ottawa on Oct. 2.

“I'm looking forward to coming back here to Vancouver, maybe in February and maybe I'll bring a friend,” he said.

Jacobson was speaking to the Vancouver Board of Trade during his first official visit to Vancouver. He was scheduled to tour Vancouver and Whistler venues on Dec. 1.

U.S. State Department

The U.S State Department has leased a floor of a downtown building for its Vancouver 2010 operations center, says the Games’ top officer.

Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit Chief Bud Mercer said on Nov. 30 at the 12th Vancouver International Security Conference that his squad is “plugged into the operations center, not too far from this building.” The conference was at the Marriott Pinnacle near the U.S. consulate at 1075 West Pender Street. Mercer later said he did not know the location of the State Department office.

The state department has had a presence in Olympic cities since Sydney 2000 because of a 1996 Presidential decree that U.S. citizens and assets must be protected at home and abroad. At Torino 2006, 20 U.S. government agencies spent $16 million.

Mercer said he meets quarterly with Washington state’s top military official Maj. Gen. Tim Louwenberg and FBI Seattle director Laura Laughlin.

Meanwhile, Mercer said 14,800 police, troops and private security guards are needed for the Games. Another 750 police around Canada will be on-call in case of emergency or illness. In July, he told Vancouver city council that the force would number 16,500.

“As the planning matured and as the plans finalized we’ve been able to bring the numbers down,” he said.

U.S. Radio Host Questioned about Olympics at Border

Syndicated U.S. radio host Amy Goodman said she was detained by Canadian border officers for 90 minutes and was asked if she would discuss the Olympics at a Vancouver lecture.

After questioning and a search of her vehicle, Goodman and two colleagues were allowed 48-hour entry into Canada. She arrived late for an appearance at the Vancouver Public Library on Nov. 25. Goodman was promoting her latest book "Breaking the Sound Barrier," a critique of broadcast media.

Goodman hosts the radio program "Democracy Now," which is syndicated via public and college stations.

She claims that she was unaware that the 2010 Games were coming to Canada and believed the officer was referring to Chicago’s failed 2016 bid.

"The implication of these questions was that I could possibly be excluded if I was going to be speaking about the Olympics," Goodman told CKNW radio on Nov. 27. "Should that be a standard for exclusion?"

The Canada Border Services Agency has not commented on the incident, citing privacy laws.

Security Exercised Gold didn’t shine around the clock

The biggest pre-Olympic security and safety exercise was scaled back because of budget concerns.

The Nov. 2-6 Exercise Gold involved 141 agencies at 48 coordination centers with more than 1,500 people, including undisclosed federal cabinet ministers, personnel in Washington D.C., Colorado Springs, Colo., and NATO observers from Europe in Ottawa.

What didn’t happen was a single round-the-clock day. Gold was compressed into 12-hour shifts because of budget constraints.

Emergency Management B.C. manager Heather Lyle told the Emergency Preparedness Conference 2009 on Nov. 25 that two of the 17 scenarios involved live play for radiological and chemical incidents. Three scenarios were based on protests, while others tested communications interoperability for natural disasters.

Briefs…

….The Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham gave his force credit on Monday for keeping the peace during the Olympic torch relay’s Canadian launch on Oct. 30. About 300 protestors who blocked off traffic diverted the relay and the torch arrived late at the end-of-day celebration, but the protest remained non-violent. Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit chief Bud Mercer said more protests are expected along the route, but he declined to say where.

…VANOC is undergoing a Dec. 2 Games-time simulation to prepare for the last IOC review on Dec. 16. Vice-president of security integration and event services Adam Gray said table-top and on-venue simulations are about “rubber-stamping what we’ve done.”

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