NORAD to assist security efforts at Vancouver Olympics

In hopes of preventing terrorist attacks, 2010 Olympic organizers will deploy 8,000 security personnel, spend as much as $1 billion in Canadian government funds and elicit help from the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

NORAD leaders are finalizing plans with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to provide fighter jets and radar support in Vancouver, where 5,500 athletes from 80-plus countries, including about 215 Americans, will converge in February.

About 4,000 Canadian soldiers are expected to oversee ground operations, with air patrol handled primarily by CF-18 Hornets from NORAD and Canadian Forces helicopters. On the water, the U.S. will complement Canadian ships with Coast Guard and Navy vessels. American troops likely won’t touch Canadian soil during the 17-day Games.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured a $4 million Olympic coordination center last month in Bellingham, Wash. — designed to bolster counterterrorism efforts and improve border protection. NORAD followed with several training exercises last week in northwest Washington and southwest British Columbia.

It’s not the first time NORAD, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, has lent a hand with Olympic security. It offered similar assistance in 2002 in Salt Lake City, and it has played a role in defense at presidential inaugurations, State of the Union addresses and Democratic and Republic National Conventions in recent years, a NORAD spokesman said.