British lawmakers tore into the chief executive of the security contractor that will be unable deliver enough guards for the Olympic Games, forcing Nick Buckles to agree Tuesday, July 17, that the fiasco is "a humiliating shambles for the country."

According to CNN, Buckles, the chief executive of G4S, said the company should not have agreed to provide 10,400 guards for the Olympics, six days after the security giant admitted it could not do so.

"We regret signing the contract," Buckles said under pressure from lawmakers.

The company's failure forced the government to call in 3,500 military personnel to help.

Buckles told Parliament's Home Affairs Committee he was surprised when he got his first indication on July 3 that his company would be unable to fulfill its contract.

G4S has a £284 million ($444 million) government contract to provide security guards for the Olympic Games, but only 4,000 guards are trained and ready, says the committee, which is looking into security for the Games.

Buckles said he expected 7,000 to be ready by the time the Games begin on July 27.

The staff members were supposed to be doing tasks including venue perimeter security, such as manning X-ray machines, searching people, searching vehicles and operating closed-circuit television systems, G4S said

The Home Office said Monday that the contractor was suffering from a software problem, which meant it could not guarantee who would turn up where and whether guards had the right training.