At a news briefing in Beijing on June 13, Thomas Fuentes, Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Office of International Operations, said that several FBI officials are working at the Olympic Coordination Office of the U.S. Embassy in China. The office, founded last summer, is the first ever Olympic ordination office in an American embassy abroad.

"We're offering every possible assistance to them, in terms of information sharing and other technical assistance," Fuentes said. While affirming the strength of the public security forces in China, Fuentes stated that the FBI could reinforce them through its global network of information sharing.

No fuss

Major events are often heavily policed on the ground and in the air, but during the Good Luck Beijing Olympic test events audiences rarely saw an armed security guard, as most security work was conducted by plain-clothed officers or volunteers.

The Chinese police force understands that the security work during the Olympics should not cloud the happy atmosphere of the event.

"As the biggest sports event on earth, the Olympic Games require security measures that are different from those of important meetings or conferences," said an official with the Beijing Public Security Bureau, who asked to remain anonymous. He said he totally agreed with the opinions of a security consultant for the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games, that nothing disturbs people more than a disorderly security system and disorderly security forces.

The official said only scrupulous arrangements and strict implementation of security plans could ensure a pleasurable yet safe experience for Olympic audiences.

"One task for Olympic security work is to keep down costs while achieving the two goals of a safe Olympics and a people's Olympics," said Professor Xu Lan of the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University. He said to fulfill this task Olympic organizers have to combine the strength of regular security forces and volunteers. He believes the amicability of volunteers can dismiss public dread about dealing with security.

"Audiences have no clue how many people are protecting their safety while they are actually 100 percent safe. I think this should be the effect of Olympic security work," Xue said.

Give an Olympic Smile BOCOG announces solicitation for photographs of smiling children The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced its global solicitation for photographs featuring smiling children's faces, which will be used in the performances of the opening and closing ceremonies. In an open letter on its website, BOCOG asked for photographs that depict a full frontal image of the face of a smiling or laughing child, a boy or a girl. Ideally, the child should be under 10 years of age. The photo must be at least five 5 million pixels, in color, and be bright and sharp. There is no limit to the number of children's photographs that one person may submit. However, a maximum of five photos of any one child should be submitted. Photographs must be saved in JPG format and have never been publicly used or displayed for commercial purposes. All CD submissions should be mailed together with the "documents for solicitation" that can be downloaded from the BOCOG website to the Operating Center for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing before April 30, 2008.

Olympic Torch Relay to Skip Taipei

On September 21, a BOCOG spokesman remarked on why the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay cannot pass through Taipei.

He said that that the International Olympic Committee had informed BOCOG that the Torch Relay of the Beijing Olympic Games would have to go ahead without a stop in Taipei. BOCOG expresses deep regrets that the Beijing Olympic Torch cannot go to Taipei.

The spokesman said the responsibility of causing this situation lies entirely with the Taiwan authorities. In order to resolve problems facing the torch relay passing through Taipei BOCOG has been in negotiations with the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) on several occasions through direct talks and exchange of letters since November last year.

He said the Taiwan authorities had violated the stipulations of the Olympic Charter, flagrantly making the torch relay in Taipei a political issue, denying the consensus reached through negotiations between BOCOG and CTOC and the planned torch relay route and had constantly created obstacles so that the torch relay could not go through Taipei, creating a bad precedence.