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Ridge praises Olympic security in Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge declared Thursday that Salt Lake City, Utah, "may be one of the most secure places in the world" next month when the 2002 Olympic Winter Games get under way.

The former Pennsylvania governor also said that American security efforts will be prepared for what may appear to be isolated incidents originating inside the country and not from international terrorists.

Ridge was in Utah for a firsthand look at security preparations for the Games, always a security concern but more so after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Ridge said during an interview with CNN's Paula Zahn that the government had heard of no specific threat attached to the Olympics, but a heightened security warning in effect until February 11 made good sense.

"Based on the experience of Munich in '72 [11 Israeli athletes killed during 20-hour hostage crisis with Palestinian terrorists] and in Atlanta in '96 [pipe bomb that killed one and injured dozens], the preparation dealing with all security concerns literally began in August of 1999," he said. "After 9-11, clearly they went back again and took a look at it and made some enhancements and additions."

Ridge also noted that Wednesday's arrest of a fired employee of a Southern California nuclear facility for allegedly making terrorist threats against his former co-workers and supervisors clearly indicated that the potential for trouble existed within the United States as well as from outside its borders.

"You ought to consider it potentially a terrorist event because it looked like he was equipped to do massive harm and damage to people," Ridge said. "Unfortunately, there's some very troubled people within our own country and we've seen they can act out and we have to be prepared and ready for them as well."

Ridge said that aviation officials were making changes in procedures after a 15-year-old Florida student pilot stole a plane and slammed into the Bank of America tower in Tampa.

"The notion that you just give set of keys to what we find out is a very troubled 15-year-old didn't seem to make a great deal of sense," he said. "But if you're going to profile potential terrorists, it's unlikely that some young man -- unless you've had some pre-warning -- who's working around your shop in order to get some flying lessons, would be an individual you think is a real risk to himself or his community."