Inside Sochi News Today

Other events where the event itself becomes the reason for a lot of new construction, a lot of revitalization and the like, and weve certainly seen that here in sochi where a number of the hotels are new, the sporting venues obviously are new. the press center is new. so thats all had to be constructed in a fairly short period of time. >> were hearing, of course, back here lots of scary, troublesome stories about explosive material in toothpaste tubes, black widows. whats your personal concern a...

Little context, anytime you have one of these big international events, and unfortunately that includes olympics, security is an issue. it was an issue leading up into the london games, for example, and here because of its geographic proximity to an area thats actually in a war, that creates some other special security concerns. within the boundaries of sochi, within the so-called ring of steel, theres a lot of security, but, you know, once you have your credential, once you have your i.d.s and ...

Taped conversation between two u.s. diplomats that happened to be in the ukraine at the time and were not complimentary to the eu somehow appeared on the web and were being pushed by the soviets. is the soviet union capable kind of as a final question, are they capable -- im sorry, the russians, you can tell, right? are the russians capable of protecting these olympics and keeping them safe? do they have the intelligence capability and do they have the manpower capability to make these safe? >> ...

Sochi. ivan watson joins us live. certainly back here lots of talk about security. does it affect the atmosphere there? >> well, theres a massive deployment, theres no question about it. you see police and uniformed officers everywhere, and let me just give you some numbers. some of the russian published estimates of the number of security forces deployed goes into the tens of thousands, and according to the russian organizing committee, there were 30,000 spectators in the olympic venues on satu...

Different venues. however, security behind the scenes is undoubtedly a massive concern. i just spoke with the u.s. ambassador to moscow, mike mcfaul, and he said that this is a massive effort. the u.s. team here, the olympic team, is the biggest of all of them, of course, and he described not only a sochi-based operation, but a much bigger u.s. effort to ensure that no tragedy, nothing terrible can happen here, and to give a sense of how the anxiety is big here. he did say that after the olympic...

Since said this was a mistranslation of what he actually said. but talk to me about the surveillance inside sochi. can everyone who is there just assume it is complete in the sense that in your hotel room, wherever you are on the street. what is the level? >> as a diplomat when i used to go to the soviet union and then to russia after 1991, you always assumed that you were being monitored, and given the authoritarian nature of that country under a strong authoritarian leader putin, you have to a...

Attract bad people? >> yeah, they do, unfortunately, and, again, anytime you have a big event, particularly a big sporting event where you have lots of different people, you know theres going to be a lot of media there, there has to be a lot of security, a lot of security preparation. theres a lot of preparation, for example, that goes into a super bowl and super bowl security planning. with respect to sochi, you know, weve been received well. we have a nice hotel. our accommodations are just fi...

Are coming out, but it is not overbearing. i have seen the less hospitable side of the russian security forces in my past assignments in russia, and here im really surprised and impressed by how the russian police are quite friendly and they smile and they really do not hassle you at the different venues. however, security behind the scenes is undoubtedly a massive concern. i just spoke with the u.s. ambassador to moscow, mike mcfaul, and he said that this is a massive effort. the u.s. team here...

This is "state of the union." good morning there washington. im candy crowley. the games are under way. security is heavy though, some of it is discreet in and around sochi. ivan watson joins us live. certainly back here lots of talk about security. does it affect the atmosphere there? >> well, theres a massive deployment, theres no question about it. you see police and uniformed officers everywhere, and let me just give you some numbers. some of the russian published estimates of the number o...

Co-lead of our delegation in vancouver. >> so you think there was no snub of president putin intended. >> no, i dont think so. i think he sent a delegation that represents the broad values of the united states. were here to support our team. were here to represent our country, and were proud to be here. >> will you or have you had any kind of conversation or greeting or any scenario in which youll be able to talk to president putin? >> no. i am not here as a diplomat. im here as the lead of the ...