The profiles of athletes, volunteers, journalists, security agents and certain spectators will be screened to check whether they are likely to represent a threat.
“For the Ministry of the Interior, this is the most important challenge in terms of logistics and security that it has had to organize so far”, warned Gérald Darmanin, during his hearing in the Senate, Tuesday March 5, invited to speak on the security system planned for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games. Up to 326,000 spectators will be able to attend the river parade scheduled for July 26. To secure this huge event, 45,000 members of the police will be mobilized in Ile-de-France. It is “unpublished”, assured Laurent Nunez, the Paris police prefect, on franceinfo.
The tenant of Place Beauvau said he anticipated “ultra-left, ultra-right threats” and D’“radicalized environmentalists, who are already announcing that they will commit a number of actions of civil disobedience.” About the terrorist threat, mainly Islamist, “she is not characterized” regarding the Olympic Games, “but it is not because it is not characterized that it does not exist”warned Gérald Darmanin.
In this context, the Minister of the Interior recalled that “screenings” would be carried out “out of nearly a million individuals”, specifying that 100,000 have already been made. Who are the people affected by these investigations? By whom are they carried out? Which profiles can be deemed refused and for what reasons? Franceinfo answers you.
Who will carry out these investigations?
This is the National Administrative Security Investigation Service (Sneas), created in 2017 after the wave of jihadist attacks in order to better fight terrorism and radicalization. It is one of the State bodies authorized to carry out administrative security investigations. Usually, the Sneas screens anyone hired for the jobs “which fall under certain State missions”, as explained by the National Commission for Information and Liberties (Cnil) on its site. This is the case for magistrates and police officers, for example.
This service also investigates any person employed in the security or defense sector (security officers, airport staff) or “within public transport companies of people or dangerous goods”, adds the CNIL. As part of the Olympic Games, its workforce “have more than doubled to cope with a significant increase in its activity”precise The cross. A total of 150 agents now make up Sneas.
Who is the subject of these investigations?
It’s about all the people “concerned directly or indirectly by the Olympic Games”, clarified Gérald Darmanin to the senators. At the top of the list: 10,500 athletes selected for the Olympic Games, 4,400 for the Paralympic Games, their staff (coaches, trainers, etc.) and some 26,000 journalists. This is followed by up to 22,000 private security agents and 45,000 volunteers, although not all are subject to security screening, mandatory only for those with access to protected areas.
All participants in the opening ceremony will also have their background checked. “We want to be able to control people who will have a direct view of the Seine, even from home”, explained Laurent Nunez on franceinfo. This therefore concerns all local residents but also the 326,000 spectators of the ceremony. “It’s our responsibility, we must ensure that there is no risk of a terrorist attack,” continued the Parisian prefect.
These administrative investigations will also concern rentals of furnished tourist accommodation on Airbnb, since tourists “will be forced to register on the digital platform to go to the apartment they have rented.” A total of “nearly a million people”, according to Gérald Darmanin.
What do these surveys consist of?
For months, analysts have been examining all the profiles that fall within the spectrum defined above, and in particular the hundreds of thousands of accreditation requests emanating from the organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The first stage of the administrative security investigation procedure involves screening, that is to say the consultation of a multitude of police and justice files and information even including “Interpol data of wanted persons”precise The cross. If no security risk appears, Sneas issues an opinion without objection which is equivalent to a green light.
Conversely, if the person’s name appears in one of these files, an investigator-analyst then assesses whether the facts which gave rise to this registration are likely to represent a threat in the context of his mission during the Olympic Games. . Thus, a person known to have driven under the influence of alcohol could be authorized to “intervene to repair a device in a sensitive site”explains Julien Dufour, the boss of Sneas, to AFP. “On the other hand, it’s a real subject if he has to become a bus driver.”
Depending on the evaluation, Sneas may issue an opinion of incompatibility – “motivated”, insists Julien Dufour – and the request for accreditation be refused. To date, a total of “280 incompatibility notices” were communicated on 100,000 screenings already carried out, declared Gérald Darmanin on Tuesday. “This concerns in particular people irregularly on the national territory: this is not in itself a guarantee of taking action but it is better to be regular on the national territory, it is better to be French”underlined the Minister of the Interior, adding that “six files S” were also “discarded”.
Why are they criticized?
To accomplish its task, Sneas legally relies on article L211-11-1 of the Internal Security Code relating to major events. It is also part of the law of May 19, 2023 relating to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Until the law, the organizer could not follow the advice given. It is a change of posture which is important and which reaffirms the sovereign prerogatives of the State to define who can or who must”notes Julien Dufour.
“The name of each person is entered into the Accred system (automation of centralized consultation of information and data), which queries eleven files in total, including the TAJ file [traitement des antécédents judiciaires] which is known to be a huge catch-all”specifies Noémie Levain, lawyer and member of Quadrature du net. “Anyone who is in a legal case, even if it is simply an arrest in protest, is included in the TAJ.”
“It is high time to worry about the inflation of data collected over the last twenty years by the police. This centralization of information gives a lot of power to the people who have access to it.”
Noémie Levain, lawyer at Quadrature du netat franceinfo
The lawyer believes that the criteria for assessing whether a person is likely to present a risk “are subject to a subjective assessment”. “The fact that there is no fixed criterion for what constitutes dangerousness leaves a huge amount of room for arbitrariness”, she assures. Questioned by AFP on this point, Julien Dufour affirms that the work of Sneas “is the opposite of arbitrary. It is not a question of people’s beliefs, it is a question of concrete material elements”.
Have other screenings already taken place?
Security investigations for the Olympic Games are not specific to France. As Thomas Bach, spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), reminded AFP, “Security measures for the Olympic Games are the responsibility of local authorities and are implemented according to the context of each edition.” Thus, for the London Games in 2012, the Home Office, the British equivalent of the Ministry of the Interior, carried out nearly 500,000 investigations which resulted in 100 refusals, according to The Guardian.
In 2022, Sneas had carried out 500,000 investigations and 700,000 in 2023 as part of its missions: from public transport drivers to access to airport areas, including the Rouen Armada, the 24 Hours of Le Mans or the Mondial de rugby, which released the law of May 2023. “We carried out just over 100,000 surveys during the Rugby World Cup”slips Julien Dufour to AFP, without however specifying the number of refusals.