Four days before the beginning of the FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil's security forces prepare to deal with all kinds of trouble, from crowd control to terrorist attacks.

In Rio de Janeiro, which will host several matches of the FIFA competition, the National Security Force joined on Tuesday the local forces in ensuring safety for the next few weeks.

The Rio police started on Sunday to patrol several areas of the city, such as routes from airports to the city's South Zone, where tourists are more likely to circulate, and some slums.

The area surrounding the world-renowned Maracana stadium, which has been fully renovated for the tournament, will also have its security reinforced.

An average 5,000 officers will take part in the security forces in each of the six cities to host matches of the Confederations Cup: Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and Rio.

Security will be a joint effort of a number of offices: besides the National Security Force, the Federal Police, state polices, Federal Highway Police, Armed Forces, and several governmental agencies are also involved in the security set-up for the Confederations Cup, which will last two weeks.

Over the past week, the Brazilian government has announced that the security forces are ready to deal with a myriad of threats.

The Army carried out training and simulations against terrorist attacks, as well as nuclear and biological threats. Each host city will have a team of 50 men prepared to coordinate security in case of attacks of this nature, as well as proper equipment.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may be used in the security of the opening match, in Brasilia, and in the ending match, which will be held in Rio. The UAVs have already been tested in the latest Agatha Operation, a periodic border security operation which is currently being held by Brazil's Federal Police and Armed Forces.

Airspace control will be in charge of the Air Force. In the six host cities, two days before and after each match, control of flight slots will be managed directly by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac).

According to the agency, some 2,600 air traffic controllers have received extensive training to work in the Cup.

In the day of the matches, flying over the stadiums' surrounding area will be heavily controlled and monitored; during the match, as well as some hours before and after the game, flying over the stadiums will be prohibited except for military and public security aircraft and rescue helicopters.

Heads of state who will attend Cup matches will land on Air Force bases instead of regular airports. Anti-aircraft weapons will be positioned strategic points in all host cities to deal with a possible attack, and fighter jets will be patrolling the area as well.

Four of the host cities - Rio, Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza - are coastal towns and thus will have Navy security support as well. In Rio state, the Navy will also guard the Angra 1 and 2 nuclear power plants, located in the beach town of Angra dos Reis, 114 kilometers away from the site of the match.

The coordination of the entire defense system will be in charge of Rio's Command and Control Center, which was inaugurated two weeks ago and first tested in the Brazil versus England friendly match, held on June 2.

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