“Britain is preparing for the greatest show on Earth, and taking the possibility of a terrorist attack seriously, London’s summer Olympics preparations are calling on all corners of the nation’s defences, as RT’s Ivan Bennett reports. Such measures may not only turn the capital into a ‘siege city‘, but simply prove to be ineffective”.

“Spectators may know who they’re watching at the Olympics, but they won’t know who’s watching them. Surveillance drones like this could be circling the skies of London this summer. Police may use the spy cameras in their Olympics anti-terror tactics, that’ll leave no hiding place. The drones can make out a car’s number plate from heights of up to one kilometre; privacy campaigners fear it’s the start of a slippery slope.”

“I think it would be an absolute tragedy for Britain if the largest part of the Olympic legacy was a surveillance legacy where we install all this equipment in the name of national security and then when the Olympics are over, we keep using it. There’s some very very serious risks to privacy that might not be adequately protected.”

“The spy in the sky’s been piloted before in Britain by four police forces, but never took off after one crashed into a river and the UK aviation authority failed to grant the necessary license. That’s the only legal requirement before this sort of surveillance becomes reality at the Olympics, a minor hurdle for what’s already Britain’s biggest peace-time security operation. Total cost: over 1.6 billion dollars.”

“It is worrying that the security bill has increased so drastically from initial estimates, one of the reasons being given for this is sort of ‘heightened risk of terrorism’, which seems incredible as an excuse at a time when the original estimates were made around the time of the London bombings, when London was considered to be a very high risk, so it seems incredible that they got the estimates so badly wrong in the first place.”

“Commandos speeding up the Thames is one answer to a myriad of perceived terror threats; this time a high jacked passenger boat. There’ll also be warships anchored on the Thames, attack helicopters on standby, even ground to air missiles ready to launch; all that’s before you even get to the security on the ground.”

“To give you an idea of the numbers, take the Olympic stadium, capacity 80,000. Ground security at the games is enough to fill 60% of that. Inside the venues there’ll be over 23,000 security guards, along with seven and a half thousand military personal, and then outside a further 6,000 troops, along with 12,000 police. Total: just shy of 50,000.”

“The budget’s ballooned by 100% because initial estimates were woefully inadequate. But that still couldn’t stop 2 fake bombs being sneaked in under the radar at the stadium’s dummy runs; not exactly great value for money. London organisers have tried to play down fears the Olympic village will be a siege city, but with such a massive security operation, the planned Olympic legacy of ‘international friendship’, may not be the one that’s actually left.

Comprehension Check Questions:

1.  What is Britain preparing for?
2. What can a ‘drone’ do?
3. What are privacy campaigners worried about?
4. Have the British police tried to use drones in the past? What was the result?
5. What forms of response does the government have to a terrorist attack?
6. How many security staff in total are there?
7. Why is the security not good ‘value for money’
8. What is the legacy of the Olympics?

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think this is over the top? (excessive)
2. Is the government being over-sensitive?
3. How does it affect London’s / Britain’s image?
4. Would it put you off from going to the Olympics?
5. Would you feel safe?
6. Do you think it could be a terrorist target?
7. Is it a waste of tax-payers money?

Answers

1. A terrorist attack at the Olympics
2. See a car’s number plate from up to 1km away
3. That all the surveillance equipment will continue to be used after the games
4. They crashed into a river and were not given the license
5. Commandos, warships, helicopters, ground to air missiles, security on the ground
6. Just under 50,000
7. They managed to get 2 fake bombs into the stadium on a test run
8. International friendship