FBI chief Robert Mueller arrived in Athens on Thursday for a brief security inspection of venues for next year's Olympics.

Greek officials said Mueller, on his first official trip to Greece, would also praise authorities for the capture last year of members of the guerrilla group November 17, once regarded as a major threat to the Games.

Upon arrival, Mueller was rushed to the central Athens US Embassy, under heavy security, officials said. He is expected to leave on Friday.

"He will meet with police officials and he will also tour the Olympics venues," a police spokesman told Reuters.

US involvement in the Games' security has shifted from a purely advisory role to a planning one, with FBI and US military involvement.

While Greece has tried to ease concern by putting in place the biggest safety operation in the history of the Games, Mueller's visit is part of efforts to make the operation global.

"The aim is not to turn Greece into a safe place but to continue keeping Greece safe," Public Order Minister Giorgos Floridis told the media on Thursday.

"But it is a Utopia thinking we can do this on our own in a globalised world."

On Wednesday, a two-day training exercise involving about 100 security officials was completed in Stuttgart at the headquarters of the US military in Europe.

Traditionally, Games' security has been seen as a police responsibility.

In Athens, Mueller will also decorate senior policemen including police chief Fotis Nasiakos and anti-terrorism chief Stelios Syros for the dismantling of November 17.

Athens will deploy more than 40,000 security staff during the Games, more than double the number in Sydney in 2000.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, Athens organisers made security the priority.

Then, in the aftermath of the Iraq war, the security budget was last month increased by about 25 percent to 650 million euros ($743.6 million).

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