Imagine all the dots that must be connected in order to make an event like the Olympics a "non-event" from a security perspective. Imagine how much information must be accessed, correlated, matched and securely exchanged for everything to run smoothly.

Imagine the different number and types of organizations that must be involved in this information exchange -- from local, national and international law enforcement and security agencies to regional businesses, Olympic venues, worldwide media outlets and many more.

Imagine the technology that must exist to get the appropriate recipients the information they need at the right time, in the right format. Imagine the geographic scale across which this all must take place -- worldwide -- for an event like the Olympics. And all this information must be highly accurate, or else it all falls apart. It boggles the mind.

But despite the magnitude of the task, history has shown the dots can successfully be connected and an event like the Olympics can successfully be secured. Having worked for more than 20 years in helping companies and the government identify persons of interest in one capacity or another, I can tell you that a successful strategy involves approaching the challenge from three critical perspectives: pre-event information analysis to help uncover potential security threats, personnel vetting, and a coordinated real-time reaction to any threat that may emerge unexpectedly.