Detroit bomb attempt alters sports security

The massive, multimillion-dollar security operations for the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics are being adjusted in light of recent breaches such as the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner and the White House party crashers.

Sports and government officials say such lapses — where individuals got past guards on the ground — are leading to increased screening efforts at major upcoming events, including the NFL championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints in Miami next Sunday and the Winter Olympic Games, which start Feb. 12 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Extensive ticket-checking procedures also are being implemented for soccer’s World Cup, which begins June 11 in South Africa. Even entertainment awards shows are taking extra steps, such as stricter monitoring of cars arriving at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony two weeks ago.

“We’re very mindful of the world that we live in,” the NFL’s vice president of security, Milt Ahlerich, said in a telephone interview from Florida.

“We put our fate and our protection in the hands of that person on the front lines — those people that are protecting our gates — and being sure that someone who comes through doesn’t have anything on them,” Ahlerich said.

Part of the $6 million or so the NFL spends each year for Super Bowl security, on top of tax dollars spent by the government, has been devoted to what Mr. Ahlerich said were “several hours of extra training” for screeners by the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration. He wouldn’t say whether any additional screening equipment was added in response to the failed Dec. 25 attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Bert Paquet, a spokesman for the Olympics security task force, acknowledged the failed bombing prompted intensive reassessments.

“It is definitely an incident that has raised our awareness,” Cpl. Paquet said. “While there’s been no specific credible threat to the games, we understand the threat is always there… . We’ve increased police presence at all entry points — the airport, the port.”

He said more full-body scanners were being acquired for use at the airport and possibly some Olympic venues to supplement walk-through and hand-held metal detectors that screeners will use at event sites. While most screeners already had completed training before late December, the RCMP officers supervising screeners were given an updated briefing on how the Christmas Day episode could affect Olympic operations.

For the NFL, security is an ongoing issue throughout the season.

Mr. Ahlerich told the Associated Press that five to 10 bomb threats are phoned in during each regular season — roughly one every other week — but they amount to nothing. Still, he called “improvised explosive devices” — a car bomb or pipe bomb, for example — the biggest concern as thousands of people from dozens of federal agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; local police; and two private security firms prepare for the Super Bowl. Other primary concerns, he said, include “the active-shooter scenario, the chemical-agent or biological-agent scenario.”

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Branham, the federal coordinator for Super Bowl security, said Sun Life Stadium and environs will be screened for bombs and other threats well before anyone is allowed inside.

According to a federal security assessment prepared for last year’s Super Bowl, the al Qaeda training manual lists “blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality, and sin” as one of the terrorist group’s missions. That assessment also says a jihadist message board carried a posting in 2006 with information about how to conduct an attack on a sporting event using more than one suicide bomber inside the venue and near exits.

Fans aren’t allowed to bring large bags into the Super Bowl stadium, and 100 magnetometers, like those at an airport, will be used to detect metal objects. There are also radiological-, biological- and chemical-weapon detection and protection devices. But, Mr. Ahlerich noted, plastic explosives attached to someone’s body would elude a metal detector, which is why nearly everyone entering the stadium is subjected to a pat-down search.

“Exceptions would be a police officer in uniform and a player in uniform, but they’re going to be rigorously screened as well when they come in,” Mr. Ahlerich said. He paused, then added another exception: “We’re not going to pat down the president of the United States.”

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