Spy Chief Says Risks Remain

On the eve of the Super Bowl and Olympics, the top U.S. intelligence official cautions that the events will be major attention magnets and says all security precautions possible have been taken to prevent terrorism.

“Look, these are both very important, widely attended events to which there is a great deal of public attention,” National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an interview with the Associated Press.

“But by the same token, an enormous amount of effort has gone into planning the security of these events and preparing for any possible eventuality.”

More than 65,000 people are expected to attend today’s Super Bowl in Detroit. The Olympics in Turin, Italy, are expected to draw 1 million.

Negroponte said that FBI Director Robert Mueller recently returned from a trip to review security measures for the Olympic Games, which start next week. While Mueller reported the precautions were excellent, Negroponte said, “there is no guarantee that somebody won’t try to carry out some kind of untoward act.”

Previous Olympic Games have been targets of attacks.

At the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, serial bomber Eric Rudolph exploded a knapsack at the Centennial Olympic Park to embarrass the U.S. government for sanctioning abortion. One woman died, and more than 100 people were injured.

Eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage by the Palestinian group Black September at the 1972 Munich Winter Olympics. A rescue attempt left 11 Israelis, five terrorists and a policeman dead.

Negroponte said vigilance and preparation have helped keep the U.S. attack-free since Sept. 11, 2001.

Yet he said an attack from a decentralized jihadist cell -- such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the London transit attacks last July -- remains a concern. “I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that some such threat might materialize here in our country,” he said.