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Super Bowl Security Game Plan In Play

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 10, 2008

TAMPA - The security game plan for Super Bowl XLIII involves screening the backgrounds of more than 30,000 vendors and volunteers and restricting flights around The security game plan for Super Bowl XLIII , officials said today.

About 70 representatives from local, state and federal authorities met at the stadium today as they have since 2007 to prepare for the Feb. 1 championship.

Milt Ahlerich, the National Football League's vice president of security, said the Bay area's security partnerships and professionalism have assured the league that the players and fans will be well protected. Security around events will be top-notch but not visibly overwhelming, striking a balance among safety, entertainment and hospitality, he said.

"This is not the Super Bowl of Security," Ahlerich said.

Behind-the-scenes measures include FBI intelligence about possible attacks, alerts from gun dealers to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about thefts and suspicious sales, and enhanced maritime security by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Screening employees, vendors and volunteers for criminal records or immigration issues is another key part, said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement's Tampa Office of Investigations. Her agency has screened about 8,500 applicants in recent months and expects to vet another 30,000 before game day.

Applicants in the country illegally "may not have ill intent but may be susceptible by blackmail" to those who do, she said. Those with criminal records are evaluated for employment on a case-by-case basis, she said.

ICE also is focusing on protecting intellectual property rights involved with the sales of illegal tickets and merchandise. At January's Super Bowl in Phoenix, investigators seized more than 1,200 pieces of counterfeit memorabilia and clothing over five days, the agency said.

On game day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Defense will monitor all air traffic in the Bay area, customs agency spokesman Juan Muñoz-Torres said. A temporary restricted flight zone will be enacted around the stadium that day stretching as far as Tampa International Airport; it will not affect commercial flights, he said.

The Transportation Security Administration will augment staff at the airport with personnel from other airports to handle the high number of travelers, added Gary Milano, federal security director of that agency.

"For us, really the Super Bowl is Monday and Tuesday after the game," he said. "It's when the … seventy-two thousand plus fans decide it's time to fly home."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at vkalfrin@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7800.

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