OAN Staff Lillian Mann
2:13 PM – Monday, June 8, 2026
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel announced that the agency’s crisis response teams will be deployed to protect players, staff and fans at this month’s highly anticipated FIFA World Cup.
Local police departments and federal agencies across the U.S. are accelerating efforts to deploy anti-drone defenses ahead of the World Cup, which begins next week. It is expected to draw as many as 7 million visitors across 11 host cities.
Notably, the 2026 World Cup will be the largest in the tournament’s history, with 48 teams and 104 matches over June and July. The matches will take place across 16 cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
“Led by our Critical Incident Response Group, or CIRG, we are bringing longstanding tactical expertise, elite training and cutting-edge tools and technology to help secure high-visibility events like the World Cup,” Patel wrote on X.
Security measures will reportedly include hunter drones, which are capable of disabling objects in restricted airspace, along with bomb-detecting robot dogs, large X-ray trucks and thousands of AI- powered surveillance cameras.
Furthermore, the partial government shutdown earlier this year along with ongoing supply chain disruptions reportedly slowed U.S. efforts to strengthen anti-drone security. Meanwhile, federal officials are still developing regulations and training local agencies to implement last year’s SAFER SKIES Act, which in certain circumstances authorizes state and local police to disable drones that pose a threat to public safety.
“If there is one threat that keeps me up at night, it is drones,” New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in May, as she announced a multimillion-dollar investment in drone defense systems ahead of the games.
Protecting the tournament is like “78 Super Bowls over 39 days,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of President Trump’s World Cup task force told The Associated Press.
The tournament begins June 11th in Mexico City, with the first match in the U.S. scheduled for June 12th between the United States and Paraguay.
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