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Narrator: This summer, cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico are hosting World Cup matches and celebrations, drawing vast crowds of enthusiastic fans from around the globe.

Public events of this size and scale demand world-class security, especially in the face of potential criminal, terrorism, and cybersecurity threats that could put fans, venues, and critical infrastructure at risk.

The FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group—also known as CIRG—and our field offices across the country are working in lockstep with the White House and other federal, state, and local partners to keep soccer fans and players safe. As CIRG Assistant Director Devin Kowalski explains...

FBI Assistant Director Devin Kowalski: My message to those coming out to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup is that they should feel absolutely confident that the whole of government, the whole of the United States law enforcement apparatus, has been hard at work—not for days, not for months, but for years—to ensure a safe experience for all spectators.

Narrator: The White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026™ is coordinating the overall U.S. government effort to secure the World Cup.

The FBI, more specifically, is providing investigative, intelligence, and law enforcement support as needed in host cities such as Philadelphia, which will host six World Cup matches and a fan festival. As FBI Director Kash Patel explains:

FBI Director Kash Patel: We're sharing information, planning for emergencies, and coordinating across agencies to make sure the matches run smoothly.

Narrator: In the lead-up to the international tournament, we traveled to the Pennsylvania city to learn how the Bureau and our partners were posturing themselves to support World Cup security efforts there.

This is Inside the FBI.

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Narrator: Ahead of this year’s summer of soccer, the FBI’s Headquarters-level Critical Incident Response Group empowered individual FBI field offices to craft city-specific approaches to securing World Cup matches while providing support to the offices as needed.

Kowalski: CIRG is responsible for delivering some of the FBI’s most elite operational-response capabilities to the field—anytime, anywhere.

Narrator: As such, the head of each FBI office based in a World Cup host city formulated an event security strategy tailored to meet the unique security needs of their area of responsibility. This approach also let them use existing law enforcement partnerships as force multipliers in the quest to secure these high-profile events.

Last, but not least, the decision to let field offices steer local security strategy gave them flexibility to either lead or support World Cup security efforts in their areas of responsibility—since different federal agencies may play point on these efforts in different host cities.

FBI Philadelphia's strategy for securing World Cup matches and festivities in the city centers around collaboration.

FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs: The strategy is always focused on partnership, right, and how we can best be the partner that our fellow agencies need...

Narrator: That’s Wayne Jacobs, the special agent in charge of FBI Philadelphia.

Jacobs: ... So, here in Philadelphia, certainly, the [Philadelphia] Police Department and the [Pennsylvania] State Police will carry the lion’s share of the load with respect to security.

So then, it’s having conversations with them. And these conversations have been going for a couple years now around what gaps they see, what they need from us.

They’re obviously very aware of the specialized capabilities that we have—whether it’s through our special agent bomb techs, our SWAT team, our counter-drone mission, right?

And so, you know, it’s been an evolution of a conversation, right? It wasn’t just one sort of sit-down discussion, and that’s a function of the fact that, you know, as we get closer to the event, the threats are always dynamic, right?

So, we need to be engaged in that ongoing dialogue to understand what the concerns are and then what capabilities, resources, intelligence are out there for us to layer into, you know, this whole-of-government approach to securing each one of the venues that we’ll be responsible for.

Narrator: FBI Philadelphia is postured to support World Cup security as requested by our interagency partners at all levels, such as Homeland Security Investigations—one of the investigative arms of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—the Philadelphia Police Department, and the Pennsylvania State Police.

According to Supervisory Special Agent Jeff Hunter, who leads crisis management and special event planning for FBI Philadelphia, specific support taskings come from a federal coordination team.

SSA Jeff Hunter: Here in Philadelphia, the federal resources that go into World Cup planning are coordinated by the federal coordinating team. And this is leaders from various Department of Homeland Security components that work in conjunction with the World Cup White House task force.

We work very closely in collaboration with them. A lot of times, it’s working with them to meet various resource requests that the city might need in working to sort of secure ... FBI resources to meet those requests.

That could be something like special agent bomb technicians. That could be something like tactical assets. That could be something like weapons of mass destruction personnel that are specifically trained in WMD threats.

So, where we fit in? Some of those resource requests may be specific areas where FBI would sort of intuitively have the investigative lead. An example might be if there was a cyber intrusion—FBI would have the lead on that. Obviously, terrorism—FBI would have the lead on that investigation.

So, we work very closely on those threats. And then, in other areas—certainly, we would work very closely in a task-force environment with state and locals. So, we’re very familiar and very comfortable working in a variety of task-force environments, be it the Homeland Security Task Force, be it the Violent Crimes Task Force, or the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Narrator: And while specific support needs were still being determined at the time of our interview, SAC Jacobs discussed the kinds of personnel and capabilities that FBI Philadelphia was prepared to bring to the table to protect World Cup events in his backyard.

Jacobs: It’ll be a makeup of dedicated investigative teams supporting our state and local partners on the ground at venues across the city, and then we’ll have ground-intercept teams, right? So, these will be dedicated teams focused on drone detection, drone mitigation ... From a technology standpoint, certainly, the counter-drone mission is one that the FBI has really leaned into aggressively with our partners to identify and mitigate potential threats from drones.

And then, behind that, probably the largest footprint will be, you know, in our operations center here—so, our intelligence personnel who will be ingesting the tips, the leads, the information from the public, from social media, making sure that we have eyes where we need them to be and then, more importantly, pushing that information back out to the folks who are on the ground to address and deal with any potential threats that may present at any one of the venues.

We have specialized capabilities through our special agent bomb tech program, right. So, folks who will be on the ground with our partners, you know, identifying and interrogating suspicious packages.

Beyond that, we’ll have our SWAT team supporting, you know, our state and local partners in the event of some critical incident.

Narrator: And, Hunter added, FBI Philadelphia’s Evidence Response Team will also support the division’s efforts to secure the city during the tournament.

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Narrator: FBI Philadelphia is also helping to secure the skies over the World Cup events being hosted in its city.

The division coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security to establish a “No Drone Zone” around the venue that will host Philadelphia’s six World Cup matches and other areas related to the events. If someone flies a drone into restricted airspace without permission, they can potentially face a fine of up to $100,000, federal criminal felony and misdemeanor charges, and/or have their drone confiscated. The FBI will identify drone operators, seize their unmanned aerial systems, and support prosecution.

FBI field offices who protect host cities across the United States will partner with DHS to provide similar counter-drone measures in support of nationwide World Cup security. Specially trained state and local law enforcement officers will serve on FBI-led task forces to provide this kind of support at tournament venues and related sites on an as-needed basis.

The Bureau also works with the Federal Aviation Administration to enforce temporary flight restrictions. In this capacity, we use federally authorized capabilities to detect, track, and assess unauthorized drone activity. Further, FBI and FAA personnel are deployed full-time to identify drone activity that could threaten aviation safety, critical infrastructure, or public safety in the vicinity of event venues.

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Narrator: Our partners at the Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, and Homeland Security Investigations also shared insights into their planned World Cup security postures.

For example, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel said the Philadelphia Police Department planned to deploy over 5,000 personnel to support event security in various capacities.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel: We have a rhythm, we have a cadence, and we’ll be prepared.

Narrator: During a World Cup security media roundtable hosted at the FBI Philadelphia Field Office, Bethel also shared his agency’s plan to employ real-time translation capabilities built into the department’s body-worn cameras.

This will theoretically allow Philadelphia Police Department officers to more effectively communicate with soccer fans who might need to report a suspected crime or seek law enforcement assistance by eliminating potential language barriers.

The department also has an established track record of collaborating with partner agencies, including the FBI, both to protect high-profile events—such as political conventions, a papal visit, and the Super Bowl—and on year-round task forces, like the FBI Philadelphia Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Bethel: When we open our doors to our other partners, we open up not just the door to the individual, but the door to the organization.

Narrator: In this way, Bethel said, partnerships become a force multiplier and expand his department’s capacity to protect the public. And one of their chief force multipliers will be the Pennsylvania State Police, or PSP.

Philadelphia State Police Maj. Richard D’Ambrosio: Our main responsibility is going to be boots on the ground, assisting our partners in the Philadelphia Police Department.

Narrator: That’s Maj. Richard D’Ambrosio, PSP’s [the Philadelphia State Police's] Area Four commander. His area of responsibility includes Southeastern Pennsylvania.

According to Maj. D’Ambrosio, PSP personnel will provide security at event sites and deploy horseback patrols. Their Special Emergency Response Team—PSP’s equivalent of a SWAT team—and aviation cadre will also provide oversight. And their communications personnel will help ensure smooth communication with partner agencies.

D’Ambrosio: We work very well together. We’re used to working with one another. We realize that we’re better with one another as opposed to standing alone by ourselves. And it’s always been really the backbone of this profession is to work with and alongside your brothers and sisters out there to get the job done, and we’re fully prepared to do that during the World Cup.

Narrator: Last, but not least, our partners at HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] are prepared to provide a wide-ranging menu of support options. As Nathan Abel, the acting special agent in charge of HSI’s Philadelphia Field Office, explains:

HSI Philadelphia Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Nathan Abel: We work closely with the FBI; other federal, state, local partners; the City of Philadelphia; [and] the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania daily in all of our investigative measures. So, we very much took the partnerships that we already have and already work in and just morphed it into planning for this event.

From the Homeland Security Investigations perspective, we will be assigning personnel to assist at critical security hubs, transportation hubs, and things like that—as are requested by our partners—and also, we will be conducting proactive human trafficking operations and intellectual property right violation investigations and operations.

Narrator: Additionally, he says, HSI has numerous specialized investigative teams that work in and around the city...

Abel: ...and they will all be plying their trade. So, whether they’re cyber investigators who are looking for cyber frauds and schemes and things like that, or if they’re the sex-trafficking/labor trafficking group, or if they are our trade-based or global trade group—or things like that. So, we bring significant investigative expertise.

Separately, we have our own drone capability, we have significant technical capabilities. We have the ability to work in the command posts. We will be assigning criminal analysts to help with vetting and credentialing and other things like that in the command posts, and we’ll be working very closely with the rest of the government, FBI, and DHS team who are bringing in, you know, many other types of resources.

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Narrator: You can visit fbi.gov/tactics to learn more about the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group and the tools, teams, and tactics it has at the ready to protect the American people and support the FBI's law enforcement partners in their own work.

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Narrator: This has been another production of Inside the FBI. 

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