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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 assume the russians are looking at everything you do. i'm sure our athletes are aware of that. >> the...

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 there's going to be a lot of media there, there has to be a lot of security, a lot of security preparation. there's a lot of preparation, for example, that goes into a super bowl and super bowl security planning. with respect to sochi, you know, we've been received well. we have a nice hotel. our accommodations are just fine, but from what i hear from some of the athletes who are doing some of their training, they're ...

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 i'm 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, the olympic team, is the biggest of all of them, of course, and he described not only a sochi-bas...

This is "state of the union." good morning there washington. i'm 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, there's a massive deployment, there's 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 organizi...

Co-lead of our delegation in vancouver. >> so you think there was no snub of president putin intended. >> no, i don't think so. i think he sent a delegation that represents the broad values of the united states. we're here to support our team. we're here to represent our country, and we're proud to be here. >> will you or have you had any kind of conversation or greeting or any scenario in which you'll be able to talk to president putin? >> no. i am not here as a diplomat. i'm here as the lead of the delegation to the olympics, so no such conversations are contemplated. >> so you've spent four...