OLYMPICS RESPONSE goldenhour cometh the
Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dr Ioannis Galatas looks at how response would need to work if a CBRNE attack hits the London Olympics
It was then that NBC (No Body Cares) became CBRNE and millions of dollars and Euro were spent on preparedness and response. The 2012 London Olympics is a terrorist
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challenge especially now that Osama bin Laden is dead and his successor is struggling to regain face among Islamic extremists opposing the West. Therefore, new emerging threats such as a CBRNE release in an urban megapolis environment must be taken seriously and State response must be further fortified against this visible possibility. To
he 2004 Olympics in Athens was the first Summer Olympiad after the 9/11 massacres and anthrax mailings panic.
exceed 9/11, both quantitative attacks – such as simultaneous attacks in a megapolis environment - and qualitative attacks, which could come from the release of CBR agents release in a metropolitan city hosting a mega event – must be equally considered. One might wonder, why has al-Qaeda not
yet launched an attack with WMDs? There are three possible explanations: disruption, deterrence and, most disturbingly, patience.
Terrorist attack models The terrorist attack might be overt or covert and might be launched before, during or after the Games. They could be in London or
18 | CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR WARFARE | 2012/02
other Olympic Cities, or other cities or villages irrelevant to the Games. In London, targets would be areas of mass gathering, financial importance or national significance such as the Olympic/Paralympic Village, venues (Olympic Park and London venues, International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre), London downtown/shopping malls and streets, airports, Port of London and docks, major hotels, public transportation, monuments/ historic buildings and landmarks, areas of financial importance (e.g. Canary Wharf), bridges and tunnels, critical infrastructures (e.g. NHS hospitals) or business infrastructure (national/international banks, London Stock
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