BELLINGHAM, WASH.–For now, the Olympic Coordination Center some 30 minutes south of the B.C. border is a quiet, empty place.

A week from now, it will be jammed with dozens of American law-enforcement agencies prepared for the worst.

That could mean anything from a blizzard shutting down key highways into Canada to a terrorist attack that sends thousands of people streaming down the coast into the United States.

"If you contemplate what could happen ... that could have an impact on this side of the border and the other side, and consider what agencies need to be involved, you end up with a large number of people and agencies," said Washington State Patrol Capt. Greg Miller.

State Department agents assigned to the U.S. consulate office in Vancouver have the mandate to protect American visitors and athletes, including dignitaries such as Vice-President Joe Biden.

However, the law-enforcement types staffing the Olympic centre in Bellingham will stay put on their side of the border unless Ottawa formally asks the United States for assistance.

Two dozen TV screens are arrayed in every corner of the room where personnel from 42 agencies will be stationed 24/7 starting next week. Along with Olympic telecasts, the screens will relay live shots of highways, the border, Olympic venues and even airspace.

"The best-case scenario is nothing's going to happen and this would be just a great place to watch TV," said Al Beard, the project manager for field operations at the $4.5 million facility.

"Whatever happens, we've already accomplished something pretty cool. We got all these agencies together in one spot."

The centre will have hundreds of National Guard, plus officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol Drug and Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the navy and the FBI, on standby for any disruption to the Games in Vancouver.

The RCMP will provide Canadian content, on hand to work with the American agencies in the event of an emergency.

Staff Sgt. Michel Côté with the RCMP's integrated security unit, in charge of the Olympic security, said that having the cluster of U.S. special agents nearby is a bonus for Canadian security. The price tag for Games security is budgeted at nearly $1 billion.

"We know our friends to the south in the U.S. are there as a potential resource," said Côté. "We are prepared for any eventuality."

Not long after Vancouver was awarded the Games in 2003, the state of Washington's then-governor Gary Locke began preparing a plan for securing the other side of the border.

Businesses in Bellingham and Blaine, the seaside town just five minutes south of the Canadian border, are hoping travellers from the U.S. heading north for the Games will stop to visit.

Local hotel rooms –as well as bus and train packages – are being marketed to Olympic visitors reluctant to pay Vancouver prices.

It's less than an hour from downtown Vancouver to Bellingham, population 67,000, and the international border is viewed by shoppers and daily commuters as just another traffic stop.

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To handle the expected surge during the Olympics, lanes are being added at border crossings and U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing has risen by 20 per cent over the last year and a half.

The elaborate Olympic Coordination Center in Bellingham will close soon after the Games, but the $200 million in upgrades at the main border crossings will be a permanent improvement for B.C.-Washington traffic flows.

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