Over 13,000 military personnel set to be part of Olympics’ security programme

Published: 12:24 AM December 21, 2011 Updated: 2:54 PM October 11, 2020

DEFENCE secretary Philip Hammond has revealed military personnel returning from Afghanistan may be required to be part of the security process at next year’s Olympics.

However, Hammond pledged that those returning from the Middle East would not lose their leave in order to protect that Games which begin next summer.

He confirmed last week that 13,500 military personnel, more that the 10,000 that were deployed in Afghanistan would be part of the 23,7000 security force for the event.

“Post-operational leave has to be scheduled anyway, and it will be scheduled around the requirements of the Olympic task,” said Mr Hammond.

The deployment across all military services includes 3,500, rising to a peak of 7,500, will be used as part of the Games’ security and there will be specialist teams including bomb disposal and bomb teams.

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A further 1,000 will provide logistical support, while there will be a 1,000-strong unarmed contingency force for deployment in the event of an “Olympics-related civil emergency”.

The overall 23,700-strong security force will include a mix of military, private security guards and at least 3,000 unpaid London 2012 volunteers who will be used at the start of the security process.