2004 security on schedule
Security preparations for the Athens Olympics are going according to schedule and improvements are being made where necessary, police chief Lt. Gen. Fotis Nasiakos, told Kathimerini. «The strategic and tactical planning has been completed, now the operational planning is being completed, in accordance with the timetable. We are testing our plans with a series of Olympic security exercises and where necessary we are changing them,» Nasiakos said. Athens expects 17,000 athletes and official escorts, 8,000 members of the Olympic family, 3,000 judges and referees, 20,000 journalists and 2 million visitors for the Games, he said. «Such an organization is expected to attract the interest of international terrorism. That is what we have to avert and that is what we are planning for,» he said. The budget for security is 1 billion euros, of which 600 million went toward the «most modern technological equipment.»
