University of Michigan experts are available to discuss the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Feb. 6-22.
Javed Ali is an associate professor of practice of public policy and former senior U.S. government counterterrorism official.
"As the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy draw near, there most certainly has been a significant amount of planning, coordination and effort involved from the U.S. government to ensure the American contingent will be well protected and that protocols are in place to respond to a crisis working in tandem with the Italian hosts if one such were to occur," he said.
"The U.S. State Department has likely led such efforts these past months to oversee a wide range of activities in the run-up to the games—and has considered a range of threat scenarios. The 1972 Munich Summer Olympics attack against the Israeli athlete delegation still stands as one of the most infamous terrorist incidents in modern history. Since then, every Olympics has had to consider the threat of similar attacks by terrorist groups or even ideologically motivated lone offenders like in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, ones from potentially hostile nation states, and more recently, possible cyber attacks that seek to disrupt aspects of the games without causing physical damage."
On ICE's role at Olympics: "Based on past practice, the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the lead on-the-ground U.S. federal law enforcement element for high-profile events overseas like Olympic Games. There can also be other U.S. law enforcement agencies like ICE or FBI based on the types of missions or support required at any particular games, and their roles would have to be coordinated with the DS Bureau and the U.S. ambassador in country, in addition to the host nation's law enforcement or security elements."
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