Security Deal OKd for 2012

The mayor of Houston, one of the four U.S. cities in the running for the 2012 Summer Olympics, said Wednesday that all four have agreed to what he called an “unprecedented security pact” should one of the four win the right to stage the Games.

Houston Mayor Lee P. Brown said he had proposed in recent days to the mayors of New York, San Francisco and Washington that they share “ideas and resources” on the “major security issues” at the Games, from the design of the Olympic grounds to plans for policing the Games.

All agreed, Brown said.

“One thing we don’t want to see is anybody taking seriously the notion that America would not compete [for the Games] because of security issues,” Brown said in a telephone interview. “That would be a defeat we should not stand for.”

Alan Abrahamson