Olympic security checks see half a million vetted

Officials from the Home Office and the security service have completed screening about two thirds of the domestic and foreign accreditation applications from athletes, coaches, security staff and media from more than 200 competing nations.

More than 100 applications have been refused since the vetting began in October, mostly due to concerns about individuals’ criminal records.

However, some rejections have been made on the advice of MI5, after careful assessment of whether the applicant might pose a threat to national security.

Checks have also been carried out on around 70,000 volunteers recruited by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are undertaking stringent checks on all those seeking accreditation.

“This rigorous process has been designed to ensure those working at the Games are fit to do so.

“We will leave nothing to chance in our aim to deliver a safe and secure Games that London, the UK and the whole world will enjoy.”

The vetting operation is said to be the biggest since the Second World War, and the main Olympic Park is to be protected by the biggest peacetime security operation ever seen in Britain.

All leave is understood to have been suspended at MI5 to ensure the service has its full complement of some 3,800 staff for the Olympics - double the number it had a decade ago after the September 11 terror attacks.

However, no separate Olympic security unit has been set up and the UK’s terror threat level will not be increased from its current substantial rating - the third highest of five levels - simply because the Games are getting closer.

In planning for the Olympics, it was presumed the level would be at the second highest, severe, which was last in place last July.

The rating is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (Jtac), based at MI5’s headquarters at Thames House in central London, but is independent of the service.

If it does rise, it will be because specific intelligence indicates the threat has increased, perhaps because of a plot or because of a number of different circumstances which have raised the risk.

The security service is reportedly braced for a potential deluge of information from foreign police forces and intelligence agencies in the run-up to the event.

The Games will be protected by a huge security presence, made up of military personnel, private security guards and volunteers.

Around 7,500 military personnel will be deployed inside venues to carry out screening and search tasks.

Air surveillance will be intensified, with RAF and Army craft carrying teams of snipers ready to intercept any threats from the sky.

The Olympic defence strategy also includes controversial plans to station a ring of surface-to-air missiles at six sites across the capital throughout the Games.

The proposed sites include two residential buildings in east London - the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets and Fred Wigg Tower in Waltham Forest - as well as Blackheath Common; Oxleas Wood, Eltham; William Girling Reservoir, Enfield and Barn Hill in Epping Forest.