U.S. Olympic Co-ordination centre almost ready
The Associated Press
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- An U.S. Olympic co-ordination centre that will respond to emergencies during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games will have no role in Olympic security in Canada, a Department of Homeland Security official said Thursday.
Authorities are putting the finishing touches on the centre located in a renovated warehouse in Bellingham, Wash., about 30 kilometres south of the Canada-U.S. border.
It will house representatives from more than 40 local, state and federal agencies, from emergency services and tribal county and state police to the FBI and border patrol.
But Mark Beaty, homeland security co-ordinator for the area, said the centre's role ends at the border.
The RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit is responsible for security of the Games themselves, an estimated $1-billion operation involving the Mounties, military, local police and private security firms.
"We have nothing other than the support and admiration of the RCMP and others involved to make sure that the Games go off without a hitch,'' Beaty said during a media tour of the facility. "But we're responsible for the border south.''
Beaty said the RCMP will have an officer stationed in the centre. But Cpl. Jen Allan, who speaks for the Integrated Security Unit, said it won't come from her group.
"We are aware of the 2010 Olympic co-ordination centre in Bellingham, Washington and the role it is playing in co-ordinating U.S. emergency response agencies operating on the Washington side of the US-Canadian border during the Games,'' Allan said in response to an email inquiry.
"The (Integrated Security Unit) does not have a presence in their centre nor do they have a liaison in our command centre. The Bellingham co-ordination centre will continue to follow established channels between U.S. and Canadian authorities based on the issues that arise.''
An expert on American-Canadian relations said U.S. security officials worry the Olympics could be a magnet for terrorists who might want to exploit the international spotlight.
But they've also been careful not to try to insert themselves in an essentially Canadian operation, said Prof. Don Alper of the Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
"There is some sensitivity from the Canadian side as to whether the American security people are in some ways maybe thinking that they have certain responsibilities in Canada,'' he said.
The inside of the non-descript building near Bellingham's airport looks like a call centre, with rows of pods equipped with phones and computers. There are separate high-security conference rooms and a special attached garage to house a self-contained FBI mobile unit.
But officials said it will not be a command centre.
"The whole system is developed to support local responders - whether they be state, federal, county, city _ in whatever they end up having to deal with,'' said Capt. Greg Miller of the Washington State Patrol.
Co-ordinating the response to terrorism or other security threats is one of the centre's main roles.
"We have no credible intelligence of any particular threat to the United States on our side of the border,'' said Miller.
"We think probably our biggest problems are going to be traffic-weather related, having an abnormally high number of people travelling from this area where weather can be difficult in February.''
Plans to handle cross-border Olympic road travel are based on Canadian predictions of 90 per cent of high summer traffic levels in February, said Greg Alverez, U.S. Customs and Immigration area port director for the Blaine, Wash., border crossings.
A busy summer day sees about 6,000 vehicles and 15,000 people cross through Blaine into Surrey, B.C., he said.
While the crossing's new building won't be completed by February, Alvarez said its 10 traffic lanes will be fully staffed.
Alper said the rising Canadian dollar and the recession have caused some people to revise the numbers downward. But he believes there will still be a surge at the border once the Games are around the corner.
"I don't think what they factor in is a local interest, particularly among young people who could care less if they go up and sit in a traffic jam,'' said Alper, director of the schools' Border Policy Research Institute.
"They don't plan that way. Oh God, the Olympics, cool!''
Once the Games are over, the centre will become an Olympic legacy of sorts - home to local and state emergency management officials, ready for any potential disaster.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=18441.html
Linear Mode
