[ISN] Olympic security system late

[InfoSec News]

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9353718%5E15321%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

APRIL 22, 2004  
 
GREEK police will not have time to learn how to operate a security
system properly before the Athens Olympics opens in August, a senior
government source admitted.

The system is still not fully in place, and its late delivery leaves
little time for training, the official added.  "It's like putting a
peasant who only knows how to drive a tractor behind the steering
wheel of a luxury limousine," the source told reporters on condition
of anonymity.

"The system should ideally have been in place spring last year," the
source added.

After lengthy haggling, Greece finally awarded in March 2003 a 245
million euro ($397.73 million) tender for the supply of the IT
security package to a consortium led by US firm Science Applications
International Corporation (SAIC).

Despite the tight deadlines, the firm said it could deliver the system
within 12 months but the Athens News weekly, citing government
sources, has said the system will be at best 85 per cent operational
during the Games.

But a senior police official was adamant they would be up and running
on time.

"The system will be in place," he said.

SAIC's so-called C4I system encompasses a centralised command for a
network of security cameras and communications devices linking
security agencies and venues in different parts of the Greek capital.

SAIC was also in charge of security at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter
Olympics.

Greece is spending 650 million euro ($1.06 billion) - an Olympic
record - on security.