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| Britain |
| US Security Agents 'At Heathrow For Olympics' |
| 2012-07-17 |
| Foreign officials are drafted in to bolster security at UK airports in the run-up to the Olympics. US security agents are to be based at Heathrow and some other UK airports for the duration of the Olympic Games, according to Sky sources. The Department for Transport has reached an agreement with the US Transportation Security Administration for specialist agents to be working at several UK airports. They will arrive one week before the Olympics, and leave around a week after the end of the Paralympics. This is an added security layer that has been done to help boost and aid the American airlines in particular that fly in and out of the likes of Heathrow and other airports. The move is also aimed at helping UK airlines flying in and out of America. The agents will not be allowed beyond boarding gates or onto UK aircraft. Olympic security is already under scrutiny after thousands of extra soldiers and coppers were drafted in to fill a gap left by private contractor G4S. G4S has a £284m contract with the Government to provide 13,700 security guards for the Olympic Games but only 4,000 guards are trained and ready. The Government found out about the shortfall on Wednesday, and quickly had to boost the number of military personnel working on the Games by 3,500 to 17,000 - almost a fifth of the entire army. Nine out of 12 police forces have been drafted in to help the embattled firm. The forces providing additional personnel include Strathclyde, West Midlands, Thames Valley, Greater Manchester and Dorset. Athletes started to arrive in the UK on Monday, on what was Heathrow airport's busiest ever day. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 The TSA + Heathrow = < sinktrap > |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-07-17 13:41 |
| #2 They will arrive one week before the Olympics, and leave around a week after the end of the Paralympics Provided they do not become involved in some local criminal activity. This should be very interesting to watch. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-07-17 13:22 |
| #1 TSA at the Olympic Village...a bigger party than Obama in Rio. |
| Posted by: Whavising Bluetooth1125 2012-07-17 12:57 |