Law enforcement agencies will be equally busy securing the region's three airports and most of its hotels. Delegations will use the three airports as well as Andrews Air Force Base. The heads of state and their delegations will stay at Washington hotels. Three delegations taking up half of the hotel will stay at the Willard Intercontinental, said public relations director Kristina Messner. Before the delegations arrive, Secret Service agents and canines will sweep the hotel's rooms, offices and public areas.
Agents routinely check sewers and then seal manhole covers.
Still, with all the preparations and anticipation of security problems, some security and counter-terrorism experts say the NATO summit poses great risks. In addition to ongoing threats by Osama bin Laden, you may see incidents by Serbian nationalists. But others say the obvious increase in security may cause domestic or international terrorists and other troublemakers to wait for another event to cause problems. Sophisticated terrorists may shy away from the enormous police and anti-terrorism presence in Washington, Cilluffo said, but that should not give Americans a false sense of security. The organizations will comb their lists to determine where to conduct surveillance, monitoring all points of entry.