DHS Director Gillespie, former Olympic official: Games must go on

Despite concerns over the Zika virus in Brazil, the 2016 Summer Olympics must go on, said the state’s Department of Human Services director, who helped organize the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics months after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City.

Some are questioning the decision to hold the Games in Brazil, which is suffering from an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, whose transmission can lead to birth defects.

But Cindy Gillespie, the state’s new Department of Human Services director, said in an interview Wednesday that the Games are too big and cannot be moved or postponed.

“It’s just not something that’s done. You give the choice because at this stage, no one else can step up and say, ‘We’ll hold them for you,’” she said. “The Summer Olympics is the largest peacetime event in the world. You have usually over 200 nations that attend. You’ll have over 14,000 athletes, 16,000 athletes. Housing them, feeding them, holding all of these events simultaneously cannot be done without years of preparation. So if the Games are cancelled, then there are no Games.”

Gillespie said that, consumed with her new job as Arkansas’ DHS director, she has not been following Brazil’s situation closely.

She pointed to her own experiences as vice president of federal relations and the torch relay for the Salt Lake City Olympics, which began in January 2002, only months after the Sept. 11 attacks. At the time, the United States was considered to be under threat of terrorist attack. Athletes were scheduled to begin arriving 30-60 days before the Games in December.

“The decision was made immediately that the Games would go on, and literally that decision is made from the president of the United States on down, and the president of (the International Olympic Committee),” she said.

With that decision made, the Olympic Committee spent two weeks with the FBI, Secret Service, the military and local law enforcement doing a rapid review of the security plans, which she said “were very solid because of the bombing in Atlanta” – the 1996 Summer Olympics. After that, organizers reported to Congress, which approved funding to strengthen a couple of areas. Within three weeks of the attacks, the Salt Lake Games had modified its security plan.

At that point, it was up to each nation to decide if they would attend the Games. The committee invited all the nations to send their head of security to Salt Lake City to review the plans and decide if it was safe to come to the United States. All did, and all decided the Games were safe, though they gave their athletes the choice of whether or not to come. As far as she knows, all the athletes did come.

Gillespie said the Games were opened by not only President George W. Bush but also the entire Cabinet except for one member who stayed away in case something happened, much as is done for State of the Union addresses.