Janet Napolitano, the leader of the US delegation at the Sochi Winter Olympics, on Sunday tried to draw a line under domestic criticism of the Games by defending Russian security and saying gay athletes appeared to be welcome.
The former secretary of homeland security played down concerns overterror threats, heavy-handed security and state-sanctioned homophobiain an upbeat assessment which contrasted with sniping from some US politicians and media organisations.
“The level of security is quite appropriate and it’s very good and I hope the attention of the media and the world turns now more to what the athletes are going to do instead of the threats that are being made,” she told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
On Saturday, Russian special forces killed five suspected militants in a raid on a house in Makhachkala, the capital province of Dagestan, police said. The suspected militants were allegedly part of the Buynaksk terror group, which carried out two bombings in Volgograd that killed 34 people in December.
Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, used his Sunday talkshow appearance to fault Moscow for not sharing intelligence.
“We were hoping the Russians would share more information on internal security threats, of which the operation in Dagestan is a great example,” he told ABC’s This Week. “That obviously had some nexus to the Games. It would have been helpful if we’d had a full and robust relationship and shared that information.”
Napolitano, who is currently president of the University of California, said the absence of President Barack Obama and other senior administration officials was not a snub to the government of Vladimir Putin and added that Russia’s anti-gay laws had not impacted directly on the Games. “I have not seen any such signs,” she said.
The US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, also in Sochi, echoed Napolitano’s emollient tone, saying the US government’s threat assessment had not changed. “We’re quite satisfied with the security over these Games right now,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press.
McFaul, who will soon leave his post, said the US delegation had had a “fantastic” time in Sochi. “It’s a great atmosphere here,” he said. “The US team is feeling very confident.”
Russia has deployed 70,000 security personnel and rocket batteries in a “ring of steel” to deter terror threats against an event that is widely seen as a political showcase for Putin. He has staked his prestige on Russia’s ability to safely host athletes and dignitaries in a region that is threatened by Islamist insurgents.
US media coverage has irked the Games’ hosts by focusing on security threats, unfinished hotels and other glitches, even after Friday’s colourful and widely praised opening ceremony. Sunday’s US network talkshows focused largely on the issue of security.
Rogers said physical security in Sochi appeared to be good but added that averting an attack from so-called Black Widow bombers or other militants would hinge on the quality of intelligence available.
“We can only hope that they find those individuals before they can penetrate any of the security rings,” Rogers said. “I don’t think those individuals have to strike at the Games, I think they can hit an event somewhere. And that makes them dangerous.”
Two other Republican congressmen used the Sunday talkshows to voice their concerns. “I’ve never seen a greater threat certainly in my lifetime,” the House homeland security committee chair, Michael McCaul, said on Fox News Sunday. “I think there’s a high degree of probability that something will detonate, something will go off, but I do think it’s probably most likely to happen outside of the ring of steel and the Olympic Village.”
Representative Peter King, a New York Republican who sits on the House homeland security and intelligence committees, addressed the issue of intelligence sharing.
“There has been some more sharing than there had been, still not what it should be,” he said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “[The Russians] are still reluctant to give intelligence that they feel would allow us to determine their sources and methods. And also, there’s a certain amount of pride. I believe that they feel they can handle a lot of this on their own.”
These are the first Olympics since the 2000 summer Games in Sydney at which a president, vice-president or first lady has not represented the US, reflecting tensions between Moscow and Washington over the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, Ukraine, Syria and other issues.
President Obama made a riposte to Russia’s anti-gay laws by including two gay athletes in the 10-member US delegation.
Napolitano said: “I think President Obama has been very clear about the United States and our position with respect to human values, human rights, free expression, tolerance and diversity. These are things we hold dear in the United States and this is an area where we have some disagreements with Russia.”
“They got the message, they know exactly where we stand on that issue,” McFaul told NBC.
However, an opening ceremony which soft-pedalled Russian nationalism and elided the cold war appears to have helped soothed some of the tension.
“We don’t have an interest in embarrassing the Russians,” said McFaul.
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