Security

Homeland Security and MDPD Say They’re Ready for Anything During 

Super Bowl — Including Castro

By Erik Bojnansky

The Super Bowl is such a high-profile event that it is a tempting target for terrorists, a National Football League official said.

The remark made by Milt Ahlreich, NFL’s vice president of security, came during a press conference the Monday before Super Bowl XLI, held in a Miami Beach Convention Center room wide enough to accommodate dozens of print, television, radio and Internet reporters from around the world. The subject: security. The main message: We are ready for anything.

“Obviously we are just days from the Super Bowl,” Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker said. However, Parker said, his agency and law enforcement officials have been preparing for this event for more  than two years. “The exact details of the security plan I cannot give [but] take my word for it, it is a thorough plan.”

And then there is the federal law enforcement contribution. “We have over 30 federal agencies involved in this event,” said Julie Torres, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Homeland Security’s representative. “…Hopefully there will be nothing much for us to do.”

Also aiding in the security — technological devices that no one was at liberty to describe. “I’ve seen it … it’s state of the art,” Ahlreich said. “It is ‘gee wiz’ kind of stuff and it gets better every year.”

So then the press gave some scenarios. A reporter from Chicago said there were reports that Al Qaeda considered targeting sporting events. While deferring to security officials, Ahlreich said the Super Bowl would be a tempting terrorist target. Torres would later call the Super Bowl a “Level 1” event, basically a major event requiring high security. Parker, though, said there has not been a “single threat or indication” leveled against the Super Bowl. But “we must be prepared for anything.”

Then a local Channel 10 reporter spoke up. “What would happen if Fidel Castro passed away during Super Bowl?” “We are very prepared to deal with that,” Parker replied quickly. The county has plans in place in the eventuality that the Cuban government falls. (Also being developed by county and city of Miami  officials, as reported by the Miami Herald, are plans to designate the Orange Bowl as a celebration area.) There was even recently a “tabletop exercise” in the event that Castro falls during Super Bowl and the expected street celebrations follow.

Then came talk of the real security threat: tailgate parties. They won’t be allowed in the parking lot of Dolphin Stadium. Tents and chairs are strictly forbidden. But, said Ahlreich, “if someone wants to have a cold beer or eat a sandwich in the parking lot, [that’s OK].”

Comments? E-mail erik@miamisunpost.com.