The Albany Gazette - Drones, lone wolves, rowdy fans: US security officials ready for World Cup

As the World Cup kicked off its largest-ever edition, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, Department of Homeland Security chief Markwayne Mullin assured fans that matches in 11 US host cities will be "very secure."

"We feel like we're as safe as we can possibly be. But we can't control, you know, the lone wolf," Mullin told "Fox and Friends" on Thursday, hours before the nearly six-week tournament opened.

"You have the issue with what we call the soft area, which is before you get into the security ring, that we're very concerned about," he said.

Local and state law enforcement officers will be "flexing" in those areas to ensure crowd safety, Mullin added, noting: "The games are going to be very secure."

This World Cup will feature a record 48 teams, with 78 of its 104 games in the United States. The first of those is the US-Paraguay match on Friday in Los Angeles.

For Americans more accustomed to their home-grown version of football, Mullin made a comparison to highlight interest in the global extravaganza.

"Seventy-eight Super Bowls in 38 days. We will have crowds bigger than the Super Bowl," he said. "We have 250 million people that watch the Super Bowl, we'll have 1.4 billion watch the FIFA games."

- 'Tripled down' -

Security measures include anti-drone coverage at all US matches, said Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House Task Force for the World Cup.

Training for local and state police on countering unauthorized drone activity at the World Cup was part of a $500 million federal grant amid this growing threat to sporting events.

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, authorities detected 355 drone incursions, leading to 81 arrests, according to a French National Assembly report.

Speaking to the Atlantic Council in Washington this week, Giuliani said the last time the United States hosted a global sporting event on the scale of the World Cup was the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

"Right now there are no credible threats, so we continue to monitor. I can tell you that a big part of my day gets spent in a SCIF," he said, referring to a highly secured room for discussing sensitive information.

"The intelligence community is tripled down looking at this World Cup, and we'll continue to monitor it between now and whenever the final goal is scored on July 19th."

Much of the security burden will fall to local police departments, which face the challenge of ensuring order among large groups of excited foreign visitors.

During the 2024 Copa America in the United States that served as a warm-up for the World Cup, stadium security and police appeared caught by surprise by rowdy fans, compared to the more placid NFL crowds they are used to.

"What may look like a riot to a local police officer, that may actually end up being something that's just standard practice for a soccer fan from that country," Giuliani told ESPN.

The Philadelphia Police Department told AFP its officers will wear body cameras with a live translation function to facilitate communication with non-English speakers.

The city known as the birthplace of American democracy will host six games, including a Round of 16 match on July 4, the same day of celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence.

Philadelphia police will enforce mandatory overtime during the "all hands on deck" period, Roosevelt Poplar, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, told ESPN.

"We want to make sure our officers are mentally prepared to handle the long 39 days this is going to be," he said.

(C.Young--TAG)