Organizers anxiously ramp up security

PARIS Terrorists. Bad actors. Suicide bombers. Right-wing lunatics. Left-wing maniacs.

- ROSIE DIMANNO

Locked down already, the streets of Paris boast 35,000 gendarmes along with 18,000 French soldiers, 2,000 foreign police and troops contributed by 45 countries, including intelligence experts from the RCMP, Rosie DiManno writes.

Lone gunmen. Cyberattacks. Radical environmental activists. Deep-cover cells, awaiting the moment of bloody spectacle.

All must be envisioned as potential disrupters and pre-emptively stopped in their tracks.

As French intelligence could not intercept or prevent two devastating attacks in 2015: the Islamist assault on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — 17 killed in that operation, including 11 journalists and a cop — and the co-ordinated jihadist barrage 10 months later that targeted a football game at the Stade de France, a rock concert at the Bataclan theatre, cafes and restaurants — 131 slain.

The XXXIII Olympics can’t come and go quickly enough for the whole security apparatus and the many agencies charged with keeping the Games safe.

On the streets of this city, locked down already, the visible presence is obvious enough: 35,000 gendarmes who’ve been in situ for the past month — with a particular show of force in Metro and train stations and around religious and tourism sites — along with 18,000 French soldiers, augmented by 2,000 foreign police and troops contributed by 45 countries, including intelligence experts from the RCMP.

Less obvious and beyond the CCTV cameras is the massive AI surveillance, drones, sonar detectors, water barriers in the Seine to obstruct invaders and combat divers — a large chunk of the scrutiny contracted from private agencies and the tech sector. “Will we have enough guards to properly ensure the security of the Games?” one of the leading contractors asked rhetorically at an April press conference. “We need to hit the accelerator.”