Security in Paris and across France has ramped up as the Olympics get underway.
At the Joint Operations Center inside the U.S. Embassy in Paris, special agents and data analysts with the state department's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) scan the web, take in information from agents embedded at all 40 Olympic venues and listen to chatter to ward off trouble.
"We're looking for safety and security information, so any kind of threats that might materialize, whether they be terrorist threats, protest information, safety and security, even weather-related issues," said Tim Ayers, director of major events coordination for DSS.
Ayers' team has been preparing for the Olympics for three years, working closely with French authorities and international partners, exchanging key information about security with one goal in mind: keeping American athletes and fans safe.
"We’re looking out for the safety and security of the U.S. athletes, but the best way to do that is to make sure the entire games are safe," Ayers said.
The task involves having agents live in the host city ahead of the Olympics and creating a partnership aimed at identifying vulnerabilities and strengths.
"Two agents out here brought back French security authorities to the Super Bowl in Phoenix a couple years ago, they brought them out to the U.N. General Assembly, they brought them out to the New Year's Eve celebration in New York to kind of show them how we do major events in the United States," Ayers said.
Ayers said one of his top concerns is a lone wolf attack.
"You can watch everything, you can have your resources out there, but if somebody makes a decision to do something, it's going to be up to them and that's up to the French state to really respond to that," Ayers said. "What we'll do though is we'll try and circle up and make sure those U.S. athletes are safe."
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Another worry is a security meltdown from a cyberattack.
"We've put together the resources to try and look after any kind of cyberattacks and strengthen cyber defenses," Ayers said. "However, as you saw with CrowdStrike, any kind of cyber incident that debilitated flights going all over the United States and overseas, it is something that's concerning, but we've tried to put together all the resources we can and we're working with the French government to exchange resources to make sure that we're all on top of it to try and identify it before it happens."
