Greece declared on Friday its formal security planning for next month's Athens Olympics was over and it was ready to guard the Games and implement the biggest ever security operation for an Olympics.
"We are ready. We will organise a presentation of the whole system as early as next week," Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis told reporters.
Seven-year-long preparations for the record 1.0 billion euro ($1.23 billion) plan have been dogged by controversy and delays, especially after organisers had to undertake a major overhaul after the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities.
Since the Al Qaeda suicide plane attacks, Greece has called in NATO support on air and sea patrols as well as units to help with a nuclear, biological or chemical threat and a standby special forces unit.
The plan has also involved a seven-nation advisory group of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and Australia that raised the budget to over three times the amount spent in Sydney in 2000.
Voulgarakis, in charge of all Games security arrangements, said every measure had been taken to assure the Olympics, also the first summer Games since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, would be the safest ever.
"We are ready to set up an appropriate security environment as needed," he said.
But in an effort to ease concerns among Greeks over the stringent measures which include a network of thousands of cameras, a Zeppelin airship aiding in surveillance and more than 70,000 armed officers, he said everything was in line with Greek laws and the country's constitution.
The latest furore over Olympic security plans erupted this week after a Wednesday New York Times report, denied by both Greece and the United States, said Athens would turn a blind eye to foreign security staff carrying weapons to guard their athletes during the August 13 to 29 event.
"All the measures are within our laws and abide by the country's constitution," the minister said.
