Atlanta Attacked: The Centennial Park Bombing

Duckworth, Austin

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-05133-3_7

Austin Duckworth³

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics ((PASSP))

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Abstract

Chapter seven discusses the final attack that led to a death at an Olympic Games. The pipe bombing of Centennial Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to Atlanta, the major threat to the Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games came in the form of a rivalry between American figure skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. One significant discussion following Atlanta was the decision to not secure Centennial Park to the same extent as other venues particularly when considering that Atlanta was the largest Olympics of all time and set a record with 197 participating countries.

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Notes

1.
Mike Penner, “Olympic Torch Passed to Cultural Abyss,” Los Angeles Times, August 12, 1992.
2.
For this claim see, John Kifner, “Security Levels To Set a Record At the Olympics,” New York Times, July 12, 1996. The discussion of liaison is limited as many of the records detailing the security preparations remain classified and thus make it difficult to provide a clear idea of how liaison worked ahead of the Atlanta Games.
3.
“Ashwini Kumars Effective Secret,” The Times of India, July 27, 1992.
4.
Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, volume 2, part 1, 367.
5.
Minutes of the 102nd IOC Session, February 8th-10th, 1994, Lillehammer, IOCL, 3.
6.
Minutes of the 102nd IOC Session, February 8th-10th, 1994.
7.
FBI Terrorist Research and Analytical Center, FBI Analysis of Terrorist Incidents and Terrorist Related Activities in the United States: 1991 (Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991), 15. The FBI report also shows that the agency aided security preparations in Seoul and Barcelona.
8.
Lillehammer Olympic Games Organizing Committee, Official Report of the XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer, 1994, volume 2, 51.
9.
Official Report of the XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer, 20.
10.
Official Report of the XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer, 54.
11.
Official Report of the XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer, 57.
12.
Haagenrud, S. E., and B. Sivertsen, “EU 833 ENSIS'94. An environmental surveillance system for the 1994 Winter Olympic Games,” NILU OR (1994): 1-10.
13.
Haagenrud and Sivertsen, “EU 833 ENSIS'94”.
14.
Haagenrud and Sivertsen, “EU 833 ENSIS'94”.
15.
Haagenrud and Sivertsen, “EU 833 ENSIS'94”.
16.
Excluding the recent Hollywood film I, Tonya, there is a wealth of books and articles written on this attack. A small sample includes, Cynthia Baughman, ed., Women On Ice: Feminist Responses to the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle (New York: Routledge, 2011); Abby Haight and J. E. Vader, Fire on Ice: The Exclusive Inside Story of Tonya Harding (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2017); Nancy Kerrigan and Steve Woodward, Nancy Kerrigan: In My Own Words (New York: Hyperion, 1996).
17.
Randy Harvey, “Harding-Kerrigan Security to Be Tight,” Los Angeles Times, February 17, 1994. The media furor around the two was so great that the United States Figure Skating Association wanted to move them into separate practice groups but the International Skating Union would not allow it to prevent disrupting other athletes.
18.
Doug Mellgren, “Anti-Terror Measures Increased for Norway Olympics,” Folder: Sécurité aux JO d’hiver de Lillehammer 1994: correspondance 1985-1995, File: correspondance 1985-1995, IOCL. Pete Fussey et al., Securing and Sustaining the Olympic City: Reconfiguring London for 2012 and Beyond, 49.
19.
Mark Ensalaco, Middle Eastern Terrorism: From Black September to September 11 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 57. The attempt to assassinate Salameh was part of the Israeli “Wrath of God” operation targeting the Palestinians behind the massacre in Munich. Reeve, One Day in September: The Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation “Wrath of God”.
20.
Mellgren, “Anti-Terror Measures Increased for Norway Olympics”.
21.
For an analysis of the causes of the war and the military campaign see, Charles R. Shrader, The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992-1994 (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2003).
22.
Mike Kupper, “After Joyful Games, a Plea for Peace,” Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1994.
23.
The third question posed to the Greek delegation making the bid regarded security. The bids for Toronto and Manchester had questions on security posed as well. See, Minutes of the 96th IOC Session, September 17th-20th, 1990, Tokyo, IOCL, 31-35. Albert II, His Serene Highness The Prince Regent of Monaco, posed most of the questions.
24.
See, for example, Minutes of the 101st IOC Session, September 21st-24th, 1993, Monaco, IOCL, 88.
25.
See ibid, 41. The Turkish bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics in Istanbul received several questions on security in the country.
26.
For works on Yousef see, Laurie Mylroie, “The World Trade Center Bomb: Who Is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters,” The National Interest 42 (Winter 1995/1996): 3–15; Simon Reeve, The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism (Boston: Northeastern University Press 2002).
27.
The best account of McVeigh’s actions is Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing (New York: HarperCollins, 2001).
28.
For a history of the group that perpetrated the attack, Aum Shinrikyo, see, David E. Kaplan and Andrew Marshall, The Cult at the End of the World (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 1996). See also, Ji Hyon Kang, “1995 Tokyo Subway Attack: The Aum Shinrikyo Case,” in A New Understanding of Terrorism: Case Studies, Trajectories and Lessons Learned, eds. M. R. Haberfeld and Agostino von Hassell (New York: Springer, 2009), 219-231. Several interviews with victims of the attack can be found in Haruki Murakami, Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (New York: Vintage Books, 2000).
29.
Staci Strobl and Jon R. Lindsay, “Lost in Transition: Khobar Towers and the Ambiguities of Terrorism in the 1990s,” in A New Understanding of Terrorism: Case Studies, Trajectories and Lessons Learned, eds. M. R. Haberfeld and Agostino von Hassell (New York: Springer, 2009), 283.
30.
This crash inspired debate among conspiracy theorists over a government cover up of the cause of the explosion. The National Transportation and Safety Board ruled in 1997 that a spark in the fuel tank caused the explosion. See, “In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean Trans World Airlines Flight 800, Boeing 747-141, N93119,” ntsb.gov Undated. Accessed February 13, 2018. https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/AAR0003.aspx.
31.
Ron Martz, “An Arena for Terrorism,” The Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 10, 1996. Some of these groups, the PLO, Provisional IRA, and Abu Nidal have been mentioned previously. Others, like Al-Fuqra and Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya, had not previously been identified as security concerns. Al-Fuqra was described as “a secretive, U.S.-based militant Black Muslim sect not aligned with the nation of Islam.” Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya was an Egypt based group that attacked Greek tourists in Cairo in April of 1996. Quote found in Marts, “An Arena for Terrorism”.
32.
R. Jeffrey Smith, “Counter-Terrorism to Be Olympic Event,” The Washington Post, April 23, 1996; Elizabeth Levitan Spaid, “Security at Summer Games Is Olympic Event,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 2, 1996.
33.
Spaid, “Security at Summer Games Is Olympic Event.”; Smith, “Counter-Terrorism to Be Olympic Event.” A further example of the training police underwent can be found here: Ron Martz, “Doing battle against terrorism,” Olympic Games (26th: 1996: Atlanta, Ga.)—Security Subject file, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.
34.
Martz, “An Arena for Terrorism.” Martz identified Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Sudan as the offenders.
35.
Elizabeth Levitan Spaid, “Security at Summer Games Is Olympic Event.” Livingstone had a rather long and storied history that included him allegedly attempting to aid Libya’s Muammar Ghaddafi escape in exchange for payment prior to Ghaddafi’s death. See, Scott Shane and Penn Bullock, “Group in U.S. Hoped for Big Payday in Offer to Help Qaddafi,” New York Times, November 17, 2011.
36.
R. Jeffrey Smith, “Counter-Terrorism to Be Olympic Event”.
37.
According to ACOG’s Final Report, a relatively scant staff of 17,424 protected the Atlanta Olympic Games. Yet there are multiple sources showing that the true number nearly doubled that provided by ACOG. For the ACOG number see, Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, volume 2, part 1, 366. ACOG contradicts itself when discussing the number of military personnel provided. In the official tally, ACOG lists 3,525 military personnel. The report also notes, “approximately 10,000 people actually participated in staffing the positions.” See ibid, 368. Reports contradicting ACOG’s number include, Kifner, “Security Levels To Set a Record At the Olympics.” Kifner notes that security officials “privately” said that the number was about 30,000 with 14,000 soldiers. The reason for the disparity in numbers between the public records available and ACOG’s Final Report is unclear.
38.
Ron Martz, “An Arena for Terrorism”.
39.
John Kifner, “Security Levels To Set a Record At the Olympics”.
40.
An entire chapter on the technology at the Atlanta Olympics, complete with intricate detail, can be found in Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, 442-458. Lillian Lee Kim, “Advancements Help ACOG Enhance Security of Olympic Village,” The Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 10, 1996; Peter H. Lewis, “Power Up, and Let the Games Begin; High-Technology Companies Hope to Score a 10 (at Least a 9.8) in Atlanta,” New York Times, July 8, 1996.
41.
Letter from Ashwini Kumar to Juan Antonio Samaranch, October 20, 1995, Sécurité aux JO aété d’Atlanta 1996 correspondance september 1995–1996, File: correspondance september–october 1995, IOCL.
42.
Letter from Ashwini Kumar to Juan Antonio Samaranch, February 20th, 1996, Sécurité aux JO d’été d’Atlanta 1996 correspondance september 1995–1996, File: correspondance 1996, IOCL.
43.
Christopher Weems, “A Solution For This Summer’s Olympic-Sized Traffic?” Atlanta Inquirer, February 3, 1996. This idea went awry almost immediately as MARTA trains broke down, ran late, or both. See, Eric Harrison, “If the Heat Doesn’t Get You, the Traffic Will,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1996.
44.
“Security concerns focused on park, MARTA,” July 28, 1996. Olympic Games (26th: 1996: Atlanta, Ga.)—Security Subject file, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.
45.
“Security concerns focused on park, MARTA.” It is unclear who created the matrix as it was “top-secret” and a thorough search did not uncover the document.
46.
“Security concerns focused on park, MARTA”.
47.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth.
48.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth.
49.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth. One problem Rathburn spoke on was how to handle the situation if a plane was headed toward the Olympic stadium. As noted, the calculation was it would take 22s. Rathburn noted a decision had to be made within those 22s and that, if he decided to shoot down the plane, it may “inadvertently kill more people than it would otherwise... I don’t think anyone has the answer”.
50.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth.
51.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth. Rathburn spoke at length that someone on the National Security Council drove the idea that Atlanta was vulnerable from the air. He summarized his feelings, “What the hell [did] they know that we [didn’t] know. I never got an answer”.
52.
Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, volume 2, part 1, 186.
53.
Austin Duckworth interview with Steve Silverman, March 2, 2018.
54.
Office of Speechwriting and Carolyn Curiel, “Olympics [4],” Clinton Digital Library. Accessed February 20, 2018. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/32820.
55.
Office of Speechwriting and Carolyn Curiel, “Olympics [4]”.
56.
Office of Speechwriting and Carolyn Curiel, “Olympics [1],” Clinton Digital Library. Accessed February 14, 2018. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/32817.
57.
Office of Speechwriting and Carolyn Curiel, “Olympics [1]”.
58.
Office of Speechwriting and Carolyn Curiel, “Olympics [1]”.
59.
Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, volume 2, part 1, 370.
60.
Office of Speechwriting and Carolyn Curiel, “Olympics [2],” Clinton Digital Library. Accessed February 20, 2018. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/32818.
61.
Bill Rathburn, interview by Austin Duckworth, October 16, 2017. Following his tenure in Los Angeles, he accepted a position as chief of the Dallas Police Department. When contacted to head security for Atlanta, he balked. “I had aspired to be chief of police for some time... I really tried to resist leaving... [but] it got to the point where I couldn’t afford not to go,” he recalled. Rathburn later found that his friend Ashwini Kumar had been instrumental in encouraging Rathburn’s hire.
62.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth. Of the 9 gold medals won by the Cuban delegation, 5 came from either boxers or the baseball team.
63.
Jere Longman, “OLYMPICS; His Eye on Major Leagues, Top Cuban Pitcher Defects,” New York Times, July 11, 1996.
64.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth.
65.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth.
66.
Tamara Jones, “International Police Volunteers Find Their Team in Disarray,” The Washington Post, July 31, 1996.
67.
Tamara Jones, “International Police Volunteers Find Their Team in Disarray”.
68.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth. Rathburn did not specify how this mechanism worked.
69.
Bill Rathburn interview with Austin Duckworth.
70.
Jerry Schwartz and Frank Litsky, “A Breach in Security Is Revealed by Officials,” New York Times, July 24, 1996.
71.
Schwartz and Litsky, “A Breach in Security”.
72.
Frank Lomonte, “Olympic security force under fire,” chronicle.augusta.com. July 24, 1996. Accessed February 26, 2018. http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1996/07/24/oly_199028.shtml#.WpSK2ZMbOYU.
73.
Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, 80.
74.
William Booth and Thomas Heath, “Bomb Tip May Have Set Up Police in Atlanta for “Ambush,”” The Washington Post, July 30, 1996.
75.
The saga of Richard Jewell is not a focus of this chapter. The best account of his experience after the attack is in Marie Brenner, “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell,” Vanity Fair, February 1997.
76.
Details of Hawthorne’s death are found in B.E. Chenault, The Traveled Road Seldom Noticed (Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing Co, 2017), 91.
77.
Dave Anderson, “Olympics Not ‘Games’ Anymore,” New York Times, July 28, 1996.
78.
Dick Pettys, “Foul-Ups Followed 911 Call in Atlanta,” The Washington Post, August 9, 1996.
79.
Mark Hamm and Ramón Spaaij, The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017), 108.
80.
“Full Text of Eric Rudolph’s Confession”.
81.
“Full Text of Eric Rudolph’s Confession”.
82.
“Full Text of Eric Rudolph’s Confession.” He also confessed that he originally planned to explode five bombs on consecutive days but the “chaos” that followed the attack in Centennial Park led him to destroy the other four devices.
83.
Austin Duckworth interview with Bill Rathburn.
84.
Austin Duckworth interview with Bill Rathburn. The bombing he refers to is most likely one that has gone underreported outside of the Spanish media. See, “Dos artificieros mueren en Madrid al desactivar un paquete bomba,” July 2, 1991. Accessed February 27, 2018. https://elpais.com/diario/1991/07/02/portada/678405604_850215.html.
85.
Austin Duckworth interview with Bill Rathburn.
86.
V. Srivatsa and Ramesh Chandran, “Games to Continue despite Blast in Atlanta,” The Times of India, July 28, 1996. The authors of the article wrote, “The IOC hastily convened a series of meetings in the middle of the night and decided that the Games [would] go on”.
87.
William Drozdiak, “FBI Probes Bombing as Olympic Games Continue,” The Washington Post, July 28, 1996.
88.
Elizabeth Levitan Spaid, “Blast Quiets But Can’t Silence Spirit of Olympics Series,” The Christian Science Monitor, July 29, 1996.
89.
Mike Kupper, “The Show Goes On,” Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1996.
90.
William Drozdiak, “Tens of Thousands Gather as Park Makes Comeback,” The Washington Post, July 31, 1996.
91.
Thomas Boswell, “Terror Leaves Games in Somber Mood,” The Washington Post, July 28, 1996.
92.
Jeff Brazil, Ralph Frammolino, and Jim Newton, “Olympic Bombing Stuns World,” Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1996. According to the authors, Payne was impressed by Barcelona’s “large public commons”.
93.
Brazil, Frammolino, and Newton, “Olympic Bombing Stuns World”.
94.
“Security Measures Range from Lax to Tight, Depending on Site,” Los Angeles Times, July 29, 1996.
95.
Brazil, Frammolino, and Newton, “Olympic Bombing Stuns World”.
96.
Brazil, Frammolino, and Newton, “Olympic Bombing Stuns World”.
97.
“History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State,” United States Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security, printed October 2011, Global Publishing Solutions, First Edition. The history notes that serious considerations of security started in 1991 when Havana, Cuba hosted the Pan-American Games and several Cuban athletes defected. Several officials worried that the Cubans would “exploit and harass U.S. athletes, or even build relationships to exploit at a later date” and turned to the Diplomatic Security force for help. Quote found on p. 338.
98.
“History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State,” 339. The list did not end there. Kaufman also worked with “the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the Anti-Terrorism Assistance program, which provided explosive-sniffing dogs.” Quote found on 339.
99.
The author notes, “After the success in Sydney, DS expanded its coordination and preparation for the Olympics and similar events. It initiated an exchange program for the host country’s police forces during the years preceding the next Olympics, and DS created a Security Event Training program to coordinate protective security.” Quote found in “History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State”.
100.
“Declassified Documents concerning Presidential Decision Directive 62 (PDD-62),” Clinton Digital Library. Accessed January 5, 2022. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/16200.
101.
Toohey and Taylor, “Mega Events, Fear, and Risk: Terrorism at the Olympic Games,” 461-463.
102.
Minutes of the 105th IOC Session, July 15th-18th 1996, Atlanta, IOCL, 53-55.
103.
Minutes of the 109th IOC Session, June 17th-20th, 1999, Seoul, IOCL, 36. This is the best estimation based on the evidence. He is listed as a member of the IOC in the Minutes of the 111th Session, September 11th-13th and 30th, 2000, Sydney, IOCL, 58. He is listed as an honorary member in Minutes of the 112th IOC Session, July 13th-16th, 2001, Moscow, IOCL, 59.
104.
Letter from Ashwini Kumar to Juan Antonio Samaranch, January 29th, 1992, Sécurité aux JO d’été d’Atlanta 1996, Correspondance 1992-juillet 1995, File: Correspondance 1992-1994, IOCL.
105.
Sydney Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the XXVII Olympic Games, volume 1, part 2, 194.
106.
B.E. Chenault, The Traveled Road Seldom Noticed, 100.
107.
“Full Text of Eric Rudolph’s Confession”.
108.
Atlanta Olympic Games Organizing Committee, The Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games, 87.

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Duckworth, A. (2022). Atlanta Attacked: The Centennial Park Bombing. In: International Security and the Olympic Games, 1972–2020. Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05133-3_7

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05133-3_7
Published: 25 August 2022
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