Background Screening and Investigations

Introduction

As part of the planning for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, one of the co-authors was asked to help set up a background checking policy and process for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for 120,000 individuals who would have varying levels of access to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, held in Salt Lake City, Utah. This group of constituents was a combination of athletes, employees, volunteers, contractors, consultants, vendors, law enforcement, National Guard, and U.S. military.

Initially, it was believed that this process would be quite routine, and ultimately, “no big deal.” In order to complete the task at hand, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, also known as “SLOC,” would simply need to run the applicant names through some sort ...