Peter King: No Guarantees on Olympic Safety

With Russia's refusal to fully share intelligence there is no way to ensure people attending the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, will be safe from terrorism, says Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

"I cannot give a 100 percent guarantee," King said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The Sochi Olympics are going to be more threatened than any in the recent past, King said, including Greece, London and China. And those countries were all much more willing to co-operate with U.S. intelligence.

The U.S. government has told American athletes not to wear USA gear outside the Olympic venues to avoid being targets of terrorists.

"There are real threats there," King said.

Two terrorist bombs have already killed 31 people in a city visitors will have to go through to reach the Olympics, and separatists from the Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan have vowed to hit the games set for Feb. 7-23.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he has put up a "ring of steel" around the resort town near the North Caucasus, but fears exist that a group of women known as "black widows" may already have infiltrated the area before the so-called ring was set up.

The area is near where the Tsarnaev brothers, who are believed to have bombed the Boston Marathon, are from. The area is a hotbed of terrorism.

"Hopefully, things will work out, but it's nowhere near ideal," King said.
King was much more confident about security in a major sports event slated to take place nearer his home: Super Bowl XLVII.

Weather is the biggest threat concerning organizers of the first outdoor Super Bowl in a winter climate set for Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

But the first "mass transit Super Bowl" does present some security concerns, King said. Many people will be coming to the game by subway, and with the cold weather, people can conceal things under clothing, he said.

"To the extent that any athletic event can be safe, the Super Bowl will be," he said, explaining that, unlike the Olympics, law enforcement is cooperating at all levels.