The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN UTAH” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S1562-S1567 on March 6, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN UTAH
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity of sharing with my colleagues a summary of what happened in the Salt Lake games that took place the first 2 weeks in February, where the world came to Utah and was received in the spirit of the Olympic flame.
The Olympic Games are one of the few events, if indeed not the only event, where the world comes together in a non-political arena. There was substantial effort that went into these games, both on the part of the people of Utah and the Federal taxpayer. So I think it is appropriate that we have a summary and report to this body on that experience.
If I may, I would like to begin with some numbers. I know that is usually not the way to begin a public speech that you want anybody to listen to, but there are some numbers that outline the scope of these Olympics that I think are irreplaceable as an example of what went on.
These were the largest Winter Olympics in history, and Salt Lake City was the largest city to host a Winter Olympics. In the past, they have always been held in relatively small ski villages. This is the first time a major metropolitan area has been chosen as the host of the Winter Olympics. Some will argue with that and say Sarajevo was a major city, but Salt Lake City is the largest city that has ever been host to a Winter Olympics.
It was the largest number of athletes who have ever come to a Winter Olympics--2,500. They came from the largest number of countries ever represented at the Winter Olympics, 78, and they competed in the largest number of events--also 78. We kept adding sports to the Winter Olympics for this experience.
Three and one-half billion people watched the opening and closing ceremonies that were held in the Rice-Eccles football stadium at the University of Utah. Sixty-seven thousand people signed up to be volunteers--the largest volunteer pool ever created. Only 24,000 of them could be accommodated.
One of the interesting statistics--I don't have the final number--but far into the games, I was told, that of those 24,000 volunteers, only 77 were forced to withdraw for one reason or another: A health problem, a family emergency, what have you. The volunteers were a spectacular part of these Olympics.
There were 9,000 credentialed media that showed up to cover the Olympics. It was, as I say, the largest Winter Olympics in history.
In recognition of the size of the Olympics, it was declared for the first time as a National Special Security Event under Presidential Decision Directive 62. That directive, issued in the Clinton years, established national security events where the Secret Service would take the lead in managing the security. This is the first time the Olympics have ever been designated a National Special Security Event.
The zone of security for the Olympics covered over 900 square miles from Provo to Ogden. That was the largest coordinated area the Secret Service and other law enforcement people have ever been asked to guard--perhaps with the exception of the District of Columbia as a whole. Even at the State of the Union Message, you don't have an area as large as the area covered by these Olympics.
In order to meet the challenge of this security responsibility at these Olympics, we had 1,100 FBI agents, we had 2,000 Secret Service agents, and there were law enforcement officers from 48 different States.
As I went through one venue, I noticed on the sleeve of one of the law enforcement officers the badge of the Police Department of Gallup, NM. Law enforcement officers from 48 States came to help their Utah colleagues provide security for the games. Over 2,400 Utah law enforcement officers gathered from all over the State. There were also 2,400 military personnel--primarily National Guardsmen who came from six different States. And there were 2,200 fire and emergency response individuals. This was an incredible army of security personnel assembled to provide security for the athletes and spectators.
What did they handle? There were over 3.5 million spectators who went through magnetometers during that 2-week period--3\1/2\ million people processed on a time-frame. There were some who didn't get to their events on time. But overwhelmingly the ticket holders got to their events, went through the magnetometers, and were properly screened. There were 80,000 spectators processed each day through the magnetometers at Olympic Square. There were over 1,000 trucks processed carrying 250,000 tons of material and product. They were processed. They were screened. They got where they needed to go on time. It was an incredible security and logistical performance.
When the Attorney General was out there, I was with him, and we were checking in advance the security preparations. At one of the venues, the officer briefing us summarized how good the security really was. As he said to the Attorney General, if you are going to get anywhere near this venue during the Olympics without a credential, you are going to have to be a moose.
What happened in terms of the threat as a result of this security activity? By comparison--the Atlanta Olympics were the last that were held in the United States--in Atlanta, they routinely had between 100 and 200 bomb threats every single day by people who felt confident enough to mount some kind of hoax, or threat, or attempt to disrupt--
100 to 200 every day. In the Salt Lake Olympics, there were a little over 100 of those threats through the entire 2-week period.
Those are the statistics that give you the size and scope of what we were dealing with--the size and scope of the effort.
In an effort to make sure we were getting our money's worth and that we were on top of things, I visited the venue. I went to the Olympic Village where the athletes were. That was a self-contained city of 3,500 people--the 2,500 athletes plus 1,000 coaches and other team officials. It had its own badge, it had its own health clinic, it had its own dining hall and even its own movie theater. This village had its own post office, bank, dry cleaners and convenience store--it was self-contained.
Then I went to the media center, which was another city. As I said, there were over 9,000 accredited journalists there. Here is a city with its own store and bank as well as facilities for getting on-line, filing stories, and all of the things necessary for the media.
I visited the Public Safety Command Center where over 64 different agencies were located, coordinating all of their efforts.
I went to the joint intelligence center where all of the intelligence agencies--not only from our country, the CIA, the NSA, the DEA but also from other countries--were gathered together sharing intelligence information about what kind of threat they might see.
There was the joint information center where all of the information officers were gathered so that if there were any kind of an incident that came up, everyone would know about it instantly and be able to coordinate their responses.
I visited the Olympic Square and the Medals Plaza and, of course, every one of the athletic venues.
Out of all of this, the basic question that I think we should be addressing in the Congress is, What is the legacy of the Salt Lake City games? What is the lasting result of having held this event? I want to highlight a few of the items that came out of what I have described from all of the visitations I made.
The first legacy that is the most obvious is the degree of security expertise that has come out of this experience. As I said, I went to the security center and saw these 64 agencies in a room not the size of this chamber. They were sitting at a computer roughly every four feet, side by side, watching the computer screens and manning their stations 24 hours a day throughout the entire 17 days of the Olympics. That meant that anything that came up in the form of any sort of threat would be instantly known in real time and simultaneously to all 64 agencies.
I was interested to note the labels that were on the little cardboard folders on the top of each computer. Here was a computer with a label on it that read ``FEMA.'' It was reassuring to know that the Federal Emergency Management Administration was present. Next to it would be one that read ``FBI''--that was reassuring--and on through a number of other Federal agencies. In addition, there were various State agencies--the Utah Highway Patrol, the local police agencies, and county sheriffs departments; the Davis County Sheriff's Department.
One label caught my eye which demonstrated to me just how significant an effort this was. There was a label that said ``U of U Police Department.'' The University of Utah security guards were in the same room with the Secret Service and FEMA, because if something happened at the University of Utah--the place where the athletic village was located--the University of Utah police would have to be the first responders. But they were in the same room and were getting the same information that FEMA was getting--FEMA if it was a major fire; that the FBI was getting if there was a major law enforcement challenge; and that the Secret Service was getting if there were some kind of a threat to the President. All were in the same room. All were coordinated. It was a seamless effort, from the Secret Service at the top, all the way down to the smallest--I will not say lowest; smallest--local law enforcement agency. Nothing like this has ever been accomplished before and, certainly, nothing on the scale like this has ever been accomplished before.
The legacy that comes out of this is a degree of expertise and understanding of coordination in law enforcement that can be used as a template for homeland security and homeland defense.
I have made reference of this to Governor Ridge, when he was here, and said, ``You need to look very carefully at the experience of the Salt Lake Olympic games. It will give you guidance that will be absolutely invaluable as you struggle with the problem of divided jurisdiction among law enforcement agencies.''
While I was there, the man who was running the center turned to me and he said: Senator, this is boring. Nothing is happening. In the security business, boring is good. I smiled a little at that because it did look as if nobody was doing anything. Then he made an interesting comment. He said, ``Senator, we think that a number of groups that would otherwise have come to Salt Lake City in an attempt to disrupt the Olympics or do even more serious damage. These groups scoped out the security pattern we had here and decided to stay away.''
Indeed, he cited one activist group that, on their Web site, instructed all of their supporters around the country: Stay away. They're ready for us in Salt Lake. If you show up, you will be immediately taken care of. There is no point in coming.
So the games went on flawlessly from a security standpoint because of the incredible coordination that went on, from the Secret Service down to the smallest local law enforcement agency.
That is the first legacy that will come out of the Salt Lake City games: that degree of expertise, that understanding of how things should be done.
In connection with that legacy, I have to acknowledge the work of Brian Stafford, the Director of the United States Secret Service, who personally paid a significant amount of attention to these games. He was in Utah a number of times. Mark Camillo, the special agent in charge, practically became a citizen of Utah. He has been out in Utah for the last 24 months. The FBI, of course, under the leadership of Director Mueller, should be congratulated for an outstanding job. Bob Flowers, who is the head of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command, was a very significant player in all of this. His right hand person, Dave Tubbs, Executive Director of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command, deserves further commendation and congratulations.
These are the people who created this legacy from which the nation will draw benefit for years to come.
The second legacy that comes out of these Olympics are the facilities that were built. There were already ski facilities in many places in Salt Lake, but now we have built facilities that were not there before. For example, the ice skating oval in Kearns; the luge/bobsled/skelton track and the ski jump at Utah Olympic Park--those things were created and upgraded for the Olympics.
I had lunch with the President of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Sandra Baldwin. She said to me, ``All of our speed skaters historically have come from Wisconsin.'' That is a little bit of an overstatement, but she backed down and said, ``All right, most of them have come from Wisconsin.'' Why? Because that is where the best training facilities are for speed skating. We expect now that many of our gold-medal-
winning speed skaters will start to come from not only Utah but the entire western United States.
Then the comment made by some athletes at the lunch, and they were not necessarily Utahns, ``Salt Lake City is easy to get to. Salt Lake City is accessible by a majority airport. It is a major city with hotel and places to stay. Athletes from all over America can come to Salt Lake City to train far more easily than they can in existing training facilities.''
One of the legacies of these games will be better prepared, better trained American athletes. These games set the record for Americans winning medals at the Winter Olympics. I expect that record will be broken in the future because of the legacy of the Salt Lake Olympic Games.
In the process of creating those facilities, we produced yet another legacy. I will talk about what was one of the more controversial aspects of the Olympic facilities: the creation of the men's and women's downhill at Snowbasin. In order for that to happen, there had to be a land exchange so that Earl Holding, who owned the Snowbasin facility, could get the land necessary to create the venue that worked so well in the Olympics and that everyone saw on television.
The Forest Service owned most of the land Mr. Holding needed. The Forest Service said, ``We would be willing to deed that land to Earl Holding, but we don't want money in exchange. We want other lands.'' The Forest Service identified 11,000 acres of land in the State of Utah which, for management purposes, they wanted to acquire.
An appraisal was done. The 1,300 acres they deeded to Earl Holding in financial terms was worth the same amount as the 11,000 acres the Forest Service acquired. So even though the Forest Service acquired 8 or 9 times as many acres as it gave up, in financial terms the swap was equal. A careful appraisal was made by the Government to assure that the interest of the public was protected.
Without going into the details, this was the legacy that the Forest Service has as a result of that land swap. In a report they filed in May of 2000, they summarize what they received as a result of the land swap that was stimulated by the Olympics: 15.3 miles of perennial streams, 21.5 miles of intermittent streams, a 23-mile reduction in the boundaries that they have to police, consolidation of ownership, and the elimination of the threat of development of these lands.
They have acquired suitable habitat for threatened and endangered species--both plant and wildlife--as well as habitat for big game calving and fawning, in both summer and winter. They acquired three miles of existing road access that they did not have before, and there are 3.5 miles of existing four-wheel-drive road to be evaluated in Box Elder County, and 15.5 miles of existing trail access was acquired, along with a wide variety of dispersed recreation opportunities, again, for both winter and summer.
I spoke with the Forest Service personnel as I did my visits to the Olympic venues, and they told me how delighted they were with the way the Snowbasin venue had been developed.
They said it was the finest development they had seen and one which they would hope would be a model for other entities who would deal with Forest Service land. But they also described to me how delighted they were at the legacy of better management of Forest Service lands in Utah that comes as a by-product of the Olympics.
Housing, another legacy from the Olympics is that there will be more low-income housing in Utah as a result of efforts necessary to provide housing for Olympic guests. Frankly, we did not get as much low-income housing in Utah as I would have liked. We did not get as much as we originally thought we would get when we embarked on this program. However, one aspect of the housing that needs to be talked about has to do with housing on Indian reservations. Housing was provided for the press in manufactured units. They came straight from the factory. They were assembled on the place, and they became the housing units for people in the press. They were also at a distant venue in Soldier Hollow, where they were used for housing Olympic athletes who needed to stay there rather than at the Olympic Village.
The Olympics are over. What do you do with this housing? Because it is manufactured housing and can be shipped easily, these houses are now in the process of being dismantled and sent to Indian reservations in the State of Utah to provide affordable housing for Native Americans. That is another one of the legacies of these Olympics.
We have a security legacy. We have an athletic facilities legacy. We have a land management legacy, and we have a housing legacy. We should all be proud of that and grateful for that.
There is one more legacy that may be, while intangible, more important than those I have previously mentioned. Let me give an anecdote to illustrate my point. We, of course, were as warm with visitors from foreign countries. As they went around Salt Lake City, as they talked to the volunteers, they had an experience in America.
One of them described it this way, ``After September 11 and then the war and the attacks in Afghanistan, we had the feeling that the Americans stood astride the world and we expected, when we were coming to America for the Olympics, that the Americans would be pretty cocky, that the Americans would be lording over the rest of us the fact that they were in charge, that the Americans could do whatever they wanted anywhere in the world, and now you are coming to our Olympics, and the Americans would be filled with overweening pride and a little bit of hubris.''
They went on to say, ``We have come into this Olympic atmosphere and found nothing but warmth, graciousness, willingness to be helpful, to reach out, and to form relationships around the world. We have found none of the pride and haughtiness we expected. We go away from these Olympics with a different view of America and Americans than we had before we came. We will spread that view in our home countries.''
In many ways, that is the most important legacy to come out of these Olympics. Coming against the backdrop of September 11th, it was the coming together of people from 78 nations, of 9,000 journalists, to a nonpolitical arena and to find the humanity, the friendship, the fellowship, and the open nature of human beings regardless of their country that will bless the world.
After September 11, there were proposals to cancel the Olympics. I remember having a conversation with Mitt Romney, President of the Olympics, about that possibility.
I said, ``What will happen if you cancel the Olympics?''
He said, ``The first thing that would happen is we will go bankrupt. There will be hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of default because we can't pay our bills unless we get the revenue from actually putting on the games. We can't cancel the games. More importantly, we must not cancel the games because that would send a signal to the terrorists that they truly had won.''
Nonetheless, there was the shadow of what would happen if the games went forward hanging over it. A number of my colleagues in the Senate expressed their concern about that.
We went forward with the games. Not only did we provide safe games in the way I have described, we provided warm, gathering, closing-of-
wounds, reassuring kinds of games that told the world we are all still one family.
Enormous thanks belong to a number of people for producing that legacy. Mitt Romney, of course, stands first as the CEO who took over a situation that was challenging and produced the result I have described, along with his chief operating officer, Frazier Bullock.
I want to thank the American people for their contributions and the sense of total American participation. Driving around Salt Lake City, I saw a lot of strange buses from a lot of places I did not recognize. Finally, I saw a familiar bus. I thought: Oh, this is a hometown bus. Then I realized it was a Washington metrobus, not a Salt Lake City UTA bus. The buses came from all over the country.
On our light rail in Salt Lake, the cars are all white. Suddenly, there were a bunch of yellow cars. I wondered from where they came. The answer was, Dallas, Texas. The folks in Dallas, Texas, sent us their railroad cars to supplement ours for our light rail system.
This was truly an American effort that produced the legacy of goodwill and good feelings around the world.
I thank the American people for their help. I want to thank Governor Leavitt, the Governor of Utah; Bob Garff, chairman of the Olympics--
they all deserve special thanks.
One individual I will single out, whom many of you have met, is Cindy Gillespie. She was vice president of the Salt Lake organizing committee who handled governmental relations. She was superb at it. She also represented a source that we all found valuable. She did the same job for the Atlanta games. She brought an institutional memory of what the challenges had been in Atlanta that helped us do things a little differently in Salt Lake.
Finally, among my colleagues, I must acknowledge the Senate's leading supporter of the Olympic movement, Ted Stevens of Alaska, who put his full energy in backing these games. I am sure he had some residual regret that the games did not go to Fairbanks but came to Salt Lake City, but he threw himself into support of the Olympics in a manner that was truly heroic. And other Senators: Senator Inouye, who took over chairmanship of the defense subcommittee when there was a change in leadership, was every bit as supportive as Senator Stevens. I want to thank Senator Byrd the chairman of the Appropriations Committee for his help. Also Senators Gregg and Hollings, who had the responsibility of funding the requests that came from the President with respect to the Justice Department and the FBI. Senators Campbell and Dorgan for their help in providing adequate funding for the Secret Service. I want to also thank all of my Senate colleagues for their great support. The support for the Olympics was very broad based.
Finally, while I am thanking, I must acknowledge that the Clinton administration could not have been more supportive, and could not have done a better job in seeing to it that these were in fact America's Olympic Games. When the Clinton administration left office and the Bush administration came into power, the transition was seamless. The same support that came out of the White House and all aspects of the administration made a very significant difference.
It is that final legacy, that the support of America has been recognized around the world, and that the goodwill of America will radiate from these games around the world, that is the legacy for which I am the most grateful. It was summarized at the closing ceremonies by Jacques Rogge, the new president of the International Olympic Committee. You may know that in the past it has been the habit of the president of the International Olympic Committee to give a scorecard, a report card of how well the Olympics has done. The comment that has always been looked for at every Olympics before is when the president of the IOC stands up and says, ``You have given us the finest Olympics ever.'' That is what all of us in Salt Lake were hoping we would get, that accolade.
Jacques Rogge said, three or four days before the closing ceremony, he would not say that. He said, ``I am going to remove that tradition from the IOC. Every Olympics is different. I am not going to create that expectation, and I tell you in advance, don't be expecting that.'' So he came and he gave his formal closing remarks. They were written in the program and they were wonderful. But he ad-libbed, as he was caught up in the same spirit of good will throughout the world that I have described as the Olympic's most important legacy. And off of his prepared remarks, he turned to all of us and he said:
People of America, Utah, and Salt Lake City, you have given the world superb games. That is a legacy of which all Americans can be proud.
I yield the floor.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to all the men and women in the State of Utah and this nation whose hard work and diligence made the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics the best in the history of the Games.
I want to pay special tribute to the efforts of my Utah partner, Senator Bob Bennett. We owe him a great deal of gratitude for his leadership and guidance to ensure that the 2002 Winter Olympic Games had the resources and manpower necessary to be successful.
The 2002 Olympics proved that we as a nation can conduct national events where the need for security is balanced with the spirit of the event. In this new age, where terrorism is a constant threat, securing the Olympics was a joint effort. It involved private citizens, Utah businesses, and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The result was a security operation that provided a blueprint for the future.
The 2002 Winter Games were a showcase of American determination, resiliency, creativity, and resourcefulness. The challenge of planning for and executing an event of this magnitude was daunting even prior to the tragedy of September 11th. Following the September 11th tragedy, however, the security of the Winter Olympics became the subject of intense scrutiny in this country and throughout the International Olympic community. Frequently asked questions included: Can the United States still produce a first-rate event given the new security environment? Should the Games be cancelled? Should the Games be scaled back? Would the event become an armed camp?
There was never a question, however, among the organizers and planners of the Games as to whether the Olympics would go forward. They rolled up their sleeves and set out, determined to ensure that these Games were the best and safest Games ever. Law enforcement officials were confident that they already had an excellent security plan in place. Federal, state, local and private agencies developed and strengthened partnerships so the spirit of the Olympic Games could thrive.
The nation and, indeed, the entire international Olympic community were blessed that people of courage and conviction were already in place and prepared to carry out their tasks. I would like to take a moment to thank these wonderful men and women for what they did. I am very proud of all of them.
First, I want to thank all the strong, brave, and gifted Olympic athletes who participated in the Winter Games. I am especially proud of the United States' athletes who performed so magnificently and brought home 34 medals--more than double the bronze, silver and gold the United States brought home from the 1998 Nagano Winter Games. This was 28 more than were won in the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.
I also want to thank Utah Governor Mike Leavitt and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, U.S. Attorney Paul Warner, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Schwendiman, as well as, the many other local city and county officials, and their staffs, who hosted the Games and marshaled the resources which made the Olympics such a success. They represent the great character of the people of Utah.
Utahns work very hard to preserve the beautiful natural backdrop that the world admired and enjoyed so much throughout the Games. They also worked very hard to build the modern, state-of-the-art infrastructure that made the Games possible. It was Utahns who provided the indomitable pioneer spirit which inspired the Games to reach new heights. Without the tens of thousand of Utah volunteers, the Games would not have been possible at all, let alone the unqualified success they turned out to be.
But this is only part of the success story. The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were possible because of well-conceived and well-executed partnerships among Federal, state, local, and private organizations. Not enough can be said about the way private enterprises partnered with government at all levels. Mitt Romney, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, and Fraser Bullock, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer, are great Americans and heroes of the 2002 Olympic Games. Their collective business acumen, indomitable spirit, and eye for beauty and passion brought about a splendid production from start to finish--that was enjoyed immensely by the whole world. I want to personally thank the entire Salt Lake City Organizing Committee for 17 days of magic!
For many years, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee Board of Trustees was the backbone of planning the Games. These dedicated men and women provided critical guidance and support in developing the overall architecture and operations for the Games. We all owe a great deal of thanks to the able leadership of Frank Joklik, who was also the former CEO and President of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, as well as former Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Under the direction and care of Bob Garff, current Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the Board has been second to none in keeping the Games on track over the years. We are very proud of every member who has ever served on the Board of Trustees.
The current Board of Trustees have every right to be proud of their accomplishments. We salute: Mr. Spence Eccles, Mr. James Beardall, Ms. Sandy Baldwin, Ms. Teresa Beck, Mr. J. Dwight Bell, Mayor Lewis K. Billings, Mr. Luke Bodensteiner, Mr. Kenneth Bullock, Ms. Camille Cain, Mr. Joseph A. Cannon, Mr. Don Cash, Mr. Keith Christensen, Mr. Forrest Cuch, Ms. Kathaleen K. Cutone, Ms. Anita Defrantz, Ms. Maria Dennis, Mr. Randy Dryer, Mr. James L. Easton, Mr. Ed Eyestone, Mr. Rocky Fluhart, Ms. Maria J. Garciaz, Mr. George Garwood, Mr. Paul George, Ms. Rachel Mayer Godino, Ms. Joan Guetschow, Mr. Jim Holland, Mr. Tom Hori, Mr. William Hybl, Mr. Nolan Karras, Mr. Karlos Kirby, Mr. Don J. Leonard, Ms. Hilary Lindh, Dr. Bernard Machen, Mr. Bill Malone, Mr. Larry Mankin, Mr. Al Mansell, Mr. Henry Marsh, Mr. Jim Morris, Ms. Carol Mushett, Mayor Brad Olch, Ms. Grethe B. Peterson, Ms. Margaret Peterson, Mr. Dave Pimm, Mr. John Price, Mr. Early Reese, Mr. Chris Robinson, Mr. Mike P. Schlappi, Dr. Gerald R. Sherratt, Mr. Bill Shiebler, Mr. William J. Stapleton, Mr. Marty R. Stephens, Mr. Gordon Strachan, Ms. Picabo Street, Mr. James R. Swartz, Ms. Lillian Taylor, Ms. Diana Thomas, Mr. Richard Velez, Mr. Lloyd Ward, Ms. Ann Wechsler, Mr. Winston A. Wilkinson, Mr. Marion Willey, Mr. C.J Young, Mr. Ed T. Eynon, Mr. Kelly J. Flint, Mr. Grant C. Thomas, Mr. Brett Hopkins, Mr. James S. Jardine, and Mr. Lane Beattie.
I want to give special thanks not only to the current board but to past board members who have also given so much to these Olympics. They include: Verl Tophan, Earl Holding, Alan Layton, Scott Nelson, Tom Welch, Dave Johnson, Fred Ball, Jack Gallivan, former Utah Governors Calvin Rampton and Norm Bangerter, former Salt Lake City Mayor, Dee Dee Corradini, Palmer DePaulis, Jake Garn and many others.
The members of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command, known as USOPSC also deserve special recognition. I am especially proud of its Commander Robert Flowers, Vice Commander Rick Dinse, and Executive Director David Tubbs. This 20-member interagency and intergovernmental body developed and implemented all the public safety and security measures for the Games. I also want to express my appreciation to Earl Morris and former USOPSC member Craig Dearden for their tireless efforts. This unique cooperation between the public sector and the private sector, between federal agencies and state agencies should get an Olympic gold medal. Within the UOPSC structure, all these organizations focused on the task of making the Games safe and enjoyable while leaving organizational biases and petty preferences at the doorstep. I believe that this approach is the blueprint for all future National Special Security Events and the UOPSC structure may even be a model for other states as they continue to implement their plans to combat terrorism.
When the Olympics were designated a National Special Security Event, three federal agencies were primarily responsible for creating the security network for the Games. They were: the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, FBI Special Agent in Charge Don Johnson, Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill, Secret Service Director Brian Stafford, Secret Service Olympic Coordinator Mark Camillo, FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson.
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize other critically important members of the Olympic Games partnership. These are the men and women, many of whom are unsung heroes, who ensured the safety, security, and welfare of the Games participants and spectators. Among these are: the active duty and reserve military personnel who stood in the cold for hours inspecting cars and manning security checkpoints; the military pilots who flew a lonely vigil over Utah venues; and those uniformed personnel who manned cold, remote radar sites.
The legions of personnel from every level of federal, state, and local law enforcement who worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week vigilantly watching, inspecting, and protecting the Games also need special recognition. I think about the fire and emergency medical personnel who, like their law enforcement brothers and sisters, were on duty around the clock, planning for the worst while praying for the best. Finally, let us not forget the private non-profit organizations such as the American Red Cross and the AmeriCorps who cared for those that might have been forgotten in the excitement of the Games.
We also need to acknowledge the other everyday heroes whose stories often did not make the press. It is amazing that in a state as sparsely populated as Utah, there were well over 60,000 applicants for the 30,000 volunteer positions.
And we all have to pay special tribute to the inspirational performances by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, for their presence at so many events lifted our spirits and touched our hearts. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints provided the security for these events, as well as, security at Temple Square. The Church's efforts were lauded by local and federal law enforcement officials alike.
I would like to spend a few minutes discussing the preparation and execution of security for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. There is a great story here. I hope the lessons learned in Utah from the efforts of the many men and women in the security community will help others charged with protecting their communities.
The most important lesson learned, and one which I can not emphasize enough, is that security success depends on the open and willing cooperation among agencies at all levels of government and in the private sector. If I had to point to a one thing that spelled the difference between success and failure for the Olympic Games, I would have to say that is was the open lines of communications among all law enforcement agencies, fire and emergency medical services, hospitals and universities, and private and non-profit organizations at all levels.
More than 60 federal, local, and state law enforcement agencies contributed to the public safety of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Let me tell in detail why this experience in Salt Lake City is so unique.
In August 1999, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City was designated as a National Special Security Event. Once this designation was made, the Secret Service became the lead federal agency for designing, coordinating and implementing security at the event. With responsibility for protecting over 2,300 athletes from 77 nations, scores of foreign officials and dignitaries, and over one million spectators, the Secret Service's Major Events Division collaborated with dozens of other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and public safety officials to design a multi-faceted and comprehensive security plan. They worked for nearly 16 months to establish a safe and protected environment at an assortment of venues in the Salt Lake City area.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, ushered in a new era of heightened security, with even more emphasis on precaution and prevention. After the terrorist attacks, efforts intensified to enhance existing security plans designed and tailored to the requirements of each of the many individual venues at the Winter Olympics.
In the end, the 2002 Winter Olympics were a rousing success story for not only the United States athletes, who established a new record for American success at the Winter Games with 34 medals, but also for the thousands of athletes and hundreds of thousands of spectators who were able to compete and attend events in the safest and most secure environment possible.
The 2002 Winter Olympics represented the largest coordinated security effort in our Nation's history. While most security plans for a sporting event may typically include a large stadium and the surrounding area, the Secret Service was responsible for coordinating security at 15 different venues consisting of: the Delta Center, Medals Plaza, Main Media Center, Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium, Olympic Village, Ice Sheet at Ogden, IOC Hotel, Snow Basin Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley resort, Utah Olympic Park, Soldier's Hollow, Peaks Ice Arena, E-Center Ice Arena, and Ice Oval at Kearns. There also were special security requirements implemented at the Salt Lake International Airport and Salt Lake City's downtown Washington Square.
Compounding the difficulty of securing such a large and diverse number of venues was the sprawling geographical coverage of the Winter Games. The zone of security stretched for 900 square miles, from Provo to Ogden, providing numerous operational and logistical challenges for the Secret Service.
The security plan was designed and developed to provide the most secure environment for athletes, spectators, and protected venues. There was an airspace security plan to restrict certain aircraft from approaching any protected venue. There was a cyberspace security plan to ensure that no electronic intrusions could disrupt communications and operations. In addition, there was a physical security plan, including remote poststanders, magnetometers, state-of-the-art security cameras, chain-link fences, and electronic sensors.
Notwithstanding all of the technology and electronic monitoring, the foundation of any security plan is the law enforcement personnel implementing it. At the Winter Olympics, over 10,000 federal, state and local law enforcement and public safety officers stood watch around the clock, working in a collective and collaborative effort toward one single goal: to prevent any incidents that could cause harm to athletes or spectators, or create significant disruptions of the Games themselves.
The result of this comprehensive and sweeping security plan was secure surroundings that allowed athletes and spectators alike to enjoy the atmosphere of this international gathering without having to navigate any overly burdensome or time-consuming security checkpoints.
While there were occasional evacuations or disturbances, none of these matters were deemed serious, and there were only a handful of minor arrests during the course of the 17 days of the Games. Although at the close of the Olympics, there were no medals for the Secret Service and its partners in law enforcement and the military, the thousands of men and women who participated in the execution of perhaps the most sophisticated and successful security plan in the Secret Service's 137-year history deserve recognition and gratitude for their tireless efforts and dedication to their critical jobs.
In sum, the Salt Lake City Olympics provided the opportunity to develop and execute a plan to protect a 900 square mile part of this country. I urge that we capture the lessons learned from this experience and incorporate these lesson into our national security planning process.
Following the great traditions of this country, the success of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics was not due to any one individual, but to all who participated. From the spectators at the venues who showed patience, to the athletes who demonstrated the power of sport, to the organizers and protectors who gave us outstanding Games, and finally to the American people, including this Congress, who overwhelmingly supported the Games, we proved to the World that the events of September 11 will not deter this great Nation.
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff who worked tirelessly with me on the Olympics: Kristine Iverson, Patricia Knight, Roslyn Trojan, Christopher Campbell, Scott Simpson, Melanie Bowen, Heather Barney, and Christopher Rosche. I also owe a special thanks to Brandon Burgon who made sure I was always where I was supposed to be, and that I was on time. I appreciate everything they did, and am very proud of them.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Reed). Under the previous order, the Senator from Vermont is recognized for up to 30 minutes.
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