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Keeping athletes, dignitaries and spectators safe at the 2024 PARIS OLYMPICS is one of the biggest security challenges in French history

- DAVID BRENNAN

GAMES WIDE OPEN," BILLBOARDS, POSTERS and officials across Paris proudly declare, as the city gears up to host this month's Olympics. The Games' website promises a sporting celebration "more responsible, more inclusive, more equal and more spectacular than ever before." But the warmth of this installment of the quadrennial carnival will be ringed with steel.

France's security services are embarking on an enormous operation to try and prevent disaster, while their U.S. counterparts have reportedly spent years preparing to protect American athletes competing in Paris.

To guard the Games, some 30,000 police officers-most armed with at least handguns-will be deployed every day, with 45,000 to guard the opening ceremony on the Seine River. Another 25,000 private security guards will also be working daily.

Behind them, some 18,000 soldiers-well used to operating in French cities given the country's recent struggles with Islamist terrorism-will support the operation. Among them will be members of the famed Foreign Legion.

"Since the end of the Second World War, there has never been such a massive mobilization of military forces on French soil," General Christophe Abadwho leads military operations in Paris-declared.

France's Interior Ministry has undertaken a huge vetting program of around one million people slated for involvement, from the army of volunteers to the Olympic flame bearers and private security officers. More than 1,000 have already been excluded over security concerns. Meanwhile, French lawmakers have been pushing a massive expansion of its surveillance powers to handle the millions of people expected to flood into Paris for the Games. Among the plans are an increase in the use of AI-powered facial recognition CCTV, proposals that have prompted concerns among privacy campaigners.