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'This will be a secure place' Utah Gov. says plans in place to protect from threats
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt declared Thursday the state is better prepared than anywhere else in the world to deal with the possibility of biological or chemical threats during the Winter Olympics. Leavitt also said there were no contingency plans to cancel the Olympics in case of increased security threats, and that he believes the Games are needed now more than ever. "This is an event that was a good thing to have and now it's an event we have to have," Leavitt said. In a news conference dominated by Olympic security questions, Leavitt was deliberately vague on plans for security during the Games to held Feb. 8-24. But he said he was confident in security measures before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and is even more confident now in a new beefed-up plan. He said the best reassurance for a worried Olympic movement may have come from President Bush earlier this month when he told Leavitt, "I'll be there and so will America." "We'll be ready and this will be a secure place," Leavitt said. "The best in the world are putting this plan together and the best in the world will execute it." Leavitt, who asked for additional airspace protection over Salt Lake City in an Olympic security meeting in Washington earlier this month, said authorities already have in place a strong plan to deal with any biological or chemical attacks. He noted that Utah is the site of the Deseret Chemical Depot, where nearly half the nation's chemical weapons are stored, and has a long history of experience in dealing with the threat of chemical contamination. "We're as well prepared as any place on Earth could be," the governor said. "If there is any city or region in the world prepared for this, it is this one." Leavitt joined Olympic officials in Washington earlier this month to ask for up to $40 million more in federal help in making the Games secure in the wake of terrorist attacks. That is in addition to the $265 million already allocated for Olympic security between various government and local agencies. Olympic security planners are adding more personnel and expanding some security areas, while airspace will be even more limited during the opening and closing ceremonies and other major events. The governor has also said he may call on another 2,000 National Guardsmen to provide additional security if necessary. "In our scenario planning we have run what we believe to be every possible scenario," Leavitt said. "All that can be done to prepare for it will be done. We will be prepared." With 113 days left before the start of the Olympics, Leavitt said the Games will be run with a security presence that is visible but not overbearing. He said the new measures have "thickened" the protection plan already in place. Pressed repeatedly on whether the Games might be canceled if world events made them too dangerous, Leavitt said there are no contingency plans in place to do so and there have been no conversations about any such plans. He acknowledged an insurance policy for a cancellation, which Olympic officials earlier said was for $150 million, was in place. But Leavitt said he and everyone else involved in the Games have no doubts they will be held. "There are many who have an incentive for these games to go forward and go forward well and that includes the world community," he said. "I have every confidence the games will go forward safely."
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