Greece offers `absolute security' safeguard for Games

Greece will try to provide an environment of "absolute security" for the Athens Olympics without taking away from the games' air of celebration, the country's top law enforcement official said on Monday.

Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis also said Greece's NATO allies would help safeguard the nation's airspace and offer intelligence on possible terrorist threats.

CIA Director George Tenet, in an interview published on Monday, described NATO's assistance as an important boost in efforts to guard against terrorism.

"All the partners of NATO have strengths and the more of them that help, the safer the games will be," Tenet was quoted as saying in the Greek newspaper Ta Nea.

Greece has requested NATO assistance for the Games which start Aug. 13, including "protection against a chemical, biological and nuclear incident."

NATO members France, Germany, Britain, Spain and the US are part of a seven-nation advisory group already working with Olympic planners, while police have already begun ramping up security in Athens.

Authorities on Monday said policing has been further increased at the Israeli embassy and other Israel-related sites after the killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the militant group Hamas, threatened a dramatic escalation in Middle East violence.

"Our goal is to hold the Olympic Games in an environment of absolute security, an environment where the security measures will not affect the celebratory atmosphere of the Olympics," Voulgarakis told parliament.

He was addressing concerns that Greece's massive security plans could turn Athens into an armed camp. The Athens organizing committee chief, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, once complained she didn't want the city to resemble a "military zone."

Plans to protect the games are costing more than US$800 million, the most in Olympic history and three times higher than Sydney's security budget four years ago.