Security Plan Sends in Troops

Security plan sends in the troops
The Globe and Mail
By Steven Chase, The Globe and Mail Posted Thursday, February 11,
2010 12:17 AM ET

The nerve centre of the Canadian military force that will envelop
Vancouver's Winter Games in unprecedented security is based in a
drab Ottawa industrial park that belies its vital importance.

The operation, overseen by the Forces' Canada Command, would have
been unnecessary during the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games, when
less than 100 soldiers were deployed to help - largely for logistics
and ceremonial support.

Today, in the post-9/11 age of terror, however, more than 4,500
soldiers have been deployed to Vancouver, showing how the Canadian
military is playing a huge part in Olympic security - one that is
obscured by the fact the RCMP is designated the lead agency for
protecting the Games.

It's all being managed remotely by Canada Command, a military
organization headquartered 3,500 kilometres away in Ottawa's east
end. The nondescript building's exterior bears few trappings of a
military facility and it's situated in an area where soccer moms and
hockey dads go to pick up backsplash tiles and carpet samples for
renovations.

It's vital enough to security though that yesterday the Department
of National Defence declined to say how many staff work at the Star
Top Road location in Ottawa, which also houses several other command
centres, including the one for overseas deployments.

And Prime Minister Stephen Harper signified Canada Command's
importance to the Games when he and Defence Minister Peter MacKay
paid a visit to the facility yesterday to observe a joint
co-ordination centre that will monitor and oversee military efforts
in Vancouver. On the ground in B.C., the effort is being directed
through a unit called Joint Task Force Games.

Retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie likens the head of Canada
Command - Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson - to a CEO, and said it's his
office that soldiers in B.C. will turn to for leadership and aid.

"When Task Force Games cries for help and resources and directions
and decisions on some really, really sensitive issues that could
crop up, then they [call] back to their headquarters in Ottawa," Mr.
MacKenzie said.

The Olympic deployment, he said, has left the Canadian army more
stretched than ever, especially after Ottawa shipped more than 1,900
troops to quake-ravaged Haiti in January.

Right now, there are 5,200 soldiers deployed abroad, in addition to
the 4,500 working on Olympic security. "It's stressing the Forces to
do as much as we're doing right now," Mr. MacKenzie said.

The Canadian Forces won't be performing crowd-control duties in
Vancouver - a job left to roughly 6,000 police officers - but will
be on alert for threats to the Games and patrolling the vicinity.

"We'll be there if we are needed," Vice-Admiral Donaldson told
reporters in Ottawa.

Military experts said they expect that, in addition to sky and sea
patrols, soldiers will be conducting surveillance in the outlying
areas and forests that surround the Games - which take place across
10,000 square kilometres in southwestern B.C.

Separately, the RCMP's second in command said Canada is ready for
any security threat and will avoid overreacting if protesters break
the law when demonstrating at the Games. "It will be a measured
response," said Senior Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney.