SALT LAKE CITY -- The 2002 Winter Games might have a more militarized look, with armed soldiers possibly helping patrol streets as Air Force jets guard the skies.

"The military is going to have to be involved in the planning," Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said Thursday.

SLOC chief Mitt Romney has been discussing security plans with the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Defense.(AP)

Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, said the House Armed Services Committee is moving to repeal legislation limiting the use of military personnel in Olympic operations.

"We are changing the language now," he told The Salt Lake Tribune, referring to a measure that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pushed through Congress after the 1996 Atlanta Games.

McCain has been a critic of federal spending on the Olympics.

Salt Lake Organizing Committee chief Mitt Romney said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, suggested McCain be involved in the re-examination of Olympic security, "and I thoroughly agree."

Romney said he was heartened by assurances from Bennett and Hansen that "there is uniform support from congressional leadership ... to take all necessary actions to provide completely appropriate security for the Games."

Romney, who was in Washington on Thursday to push for more federal spending for Olympics security, said it was too early to predict how the look of security might change.

"But the appearance of security is one of the last things on our minds. The first priority is to make any adjustments to what is already a solid plan, based on the events of this week," he said. "Our plan is very solid as it is and is complete. We can make adjustments quickly."

Romney discussed the plan by telephone Thursday with officials from the Secret Service, FBI, Department of Defense and the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command.

While no detailed changes were made, he said "certain plans and events" will be added to the public safety program, but he declined to specify what they were.

He said there was discussion about the ways crowds are moved into and out of venues, "what packages are allowed and what kind of screening will be required."

Unlike Tuesday's terrorist attacks, which came unexpectedly and hit targets that were hard to predict, Olympic security planners have the benefit of knowing "exactly what we have to protect and exactly when we have to protect it," Romney said.

Bennett said that with extra security, "terrorists may give a pass in sending their people to the Olympics." But he acknowledged the element of surprise always remains. "No one was ready for people to turn commercial airliners into weapons."