The scale of Whitehall's involvement in the forthcoming London 2012 Olympics has been made clear in recent days, with the deployment of thousands more Ministry of Defence (MoD) troops as security personnel and an effective ‘lock down' on air space around the Games site in east London.

As the Olympics start date of 27 July looms, major Whitehall departments have significantly intensified their involvement – particularly the under-pressure MoD, Home Office, transport and culture departments.