Security minister admits he will not sleep easy until after London 2012

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The Security Minister has admitted that he will not “sleep easy” until the London 2012 Olympics are over as police and emergency services step up their planning for how to deal with a terror outrage.

James Brokenshire said he will only rest peacefully once responsibility for the Games is handed to Brazil for 2016.

Britain's largest ever counter-terrorism exercise will be staged in London from Wednesday to test the country’s ability to handle an attack during the summer games.

More than 2,500 people will be involved in the two-day event, which will feature a mock terror attack on the underground.

It is one of a series of live events planned ahead of the 2012 Olympics, which is seen as an obvious target for extremists.

Speaking ahead of the exercise, Mr Brokenshire said he wanted sporting achievement to be what people remember from the Games not the security.

“We will leave nothing to chance to ensure we deliver a safe and secure Games,” he said.

“I cannot sleep easy until we have handed over to Rio de Janeiro.”

The Forward Defensive exercise will run in central London tomorrow and behind the scenes on Thursday.

It will take on lessons from the July 7 bombings in 2005 and will centre on the disused Aldwych underground station, near London's Royal Courts of Justice.

The two-day event aims to replicate an attack during two busy days of the Games.

It will involve everyone from "constable to Cobra," the top level Government committee which sits during national emergencies and times of crisis, the National Olympic Security Coordinator, Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison said.

Emergency responses dealing with casualties and the crime scenes will be tested along the co-ordination and communication systems across a range of organisations that have been brought together for the Games.

Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations Cressida Dick, who will be the National Director of Counter Terrorist Policing during the Games, insisted it was not based on any specific intelligence but described it as "one of the extreme scenarios that we could face".

Up to 2,100 part-time military personnel will be called out to work as part of the security force for the Olympics, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced.

The reservists will be part of the 13,500-strong military force, already announced, but only a voluntary basis.


Source
By Tom Whitehead
www.telegraph.co.uk