By Curt Anderson
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Greek and U.S. officials have no intelligence information to indicate that international terror cells are operating in Greece and no evidence of plots aimed at the Summer Olympics, Greece's top law official said Friday.

Possible security problems at the games are causing serious misgivings. U.S. officials have pressed the Greeks repeatedly to do more to ensure the safety of athletes and spectators.

Greek Minister of Public Order George Voulgarakis met with top U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials in Washington and delivered new assurances that security measures will be ready to protect the games.

"Our plans are very well prepared," Voulgarakis said at a news conference after the meetings. "We have taken into account all the scenarios that the mind can think of."

Voulgarakis said he was given no evidence in meetings with CIA Director George Tenet, FBI Director Robert Mueller or national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that al-Qaida or any other international terror group has an active presence in Greece.

"We do not have terrorist cells in Greece," he said.

A senior U.S. law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has no information to contradict that claim. The State Department, in its recent assessment of global terrorism, said Greece "continues to make progress in the fight against terrorism, particularly against domestic groups." The document did not mention al-Qaida.

Yet there are global jitters about the safety of the Aug. 13-29 Games. Three bombings in suburban Athens drew worldwide attention Wednesday even though they did minimal damage and caused no deaths.

The bomb blasts were believed the work of local extremists not connected to the Olympics preparations, Voulgarakis said. Had they exploded months or years ago, he said, they would have attracted little notice outside Greece.

"In Europe, there is a different sense of such kinds of incidents," he said. "If it were not for the Olympic Games, it would not be in the newspapers."

Greece is spending about $1.2 billion to safeguard the games. The International Olympic Committee has taken a $170 million insurance policy against war, terrorism or an earthquake during the event.

During his three-day visit, Voulgarakis also met with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

At the news conference, Voulgarakis said about 70,000 security personnel will be on duty for the Olympics. He said there have been 30 test events for security and eight large readiness exercises, with more than 2,800 police officers trained on a high-tech security system.

NATO will provide air and sea patrols and intelligence information. Greece has signed 37 protocols with 22 countries to exchange intelligence and other security information, Voulgarakis said. One outstanding problem, he said, is to ensure that all this intelligence is coordinated so it can be analyzed properly and acted upon.

All security preparations should be ready by July 1, he said.

"We have done a lot of things in a short time," said Voulgarakis, who took office in March after his party won national elections. "The point is, we will be ready."

European Olympic officials voiced support for Athens' arrangements.

"We have full and total confidence in the organizers to provide security for the games in Athens," Patrick Hickey of the IOC said Friday after chairing a meeting in Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro, of more than 40 national Olympic committees in Europe.

The IOC's Laszlo Vajda, a coordinator of the national committees, said the bombings in Greece appeared "very isolated."

"We don't know who committed the bomb attacks ... but at this stage there is no linkage discovered toward the games," Vajda said.

An IOC team - headed by Denis Oswald, the chief IOC overseer for the Athens Games - plans to arrive Monday for the last major inspection of the troubled preparations. The unfinished stadium roof is high on the list of worries.

Security concerns for the games were underlined Friday by Japanese Olympic officials, who said they are preparing an emergency manual for their athletes going to Athens.

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On the Net:

Athens Games: http://www.athens2004.com/athens2004/

International Olympic Committee: http://www.olympic.org/