By Jana Winter
ABOARD FBI JET, June 11 (Reuters) - With 48 teams, 36 base camps and 11 stadiums, the World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday, is one of the biggest security challenges the FBI has ever faced.
That's before you account for 3 million visitors, including heads of state, not to mention threats from drones, spies, terrorists, drunken fans, cartels or pyrotechnics.
"It's a huge lift, probably the biggest lift in FBI history, in American history," said FBI Director Kash Patel in a mid-flight
interview aboard the bureau's Gulfstream jet.
In a wide-ranging interview in late May, as Patel flew from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Dallas to speak at a law enforcement conference, he talked about the agency's extensive preparation for the world's biggest sporting event amid controversies and regular reports that he may soon be fired.
Patel, 46, became FBI director in February 2025 and has presided over several major investigations already, including the murder of Charlie Kirk. But he said there has been no challenge quite like major sporting events, where terror and other threats run high.
"Literally the first week in office when I got to the FBI I said we have to prepare for the Olympics, the World Cup, two Formula One races and the Super Bowl," he said. The FBI, along with the Department of Homeland Security, was ultimately responsible for protecting the event, "not just here but overseas," he added.
The FBI is the lead domestic U.S. intelligence agency for the World Cup, which the country is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, but it is also relying on state and local law enforcement. The FBI is responsible for doing 300,000 background checks of players, coaches and personnel, while state and local authorities will be charged with security outside the venues and will help with counterdrone measures.
DRONE SCHOOL
Drones are one of the biggest threats to the games and host cities, he said. The FBI launched a counterdrone training program in October 2025, and has so far graduated 70 local police in host U.S. cities.
Drones are "one of the biggest ways that people who want to conduct adversarial attacks can effectuate them cheaply and from a distance, and with not much planning," Patel said.
The FBI has also assembled a joint operations center of foreign police from 46 of the 48 participating countries — minus Iran and Haiti — to deliver real-time threat information from their home countries.
The model, he said, was akin to a joint operations center established in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics where U.S. officials coordinated with Italian police to protect American visitors and athletes.
That was also the scene of Patel celebrating with the gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team, singing, spraying beer in the locker room, and putting President Donald Trump on speaker phone. He was the focus of widespread criticism for what some critics portrayed as an Olympics junket on the taxpayer's dime.
This came amid several media reports about allegedly excessive drinking, which Patel and the FBI have strongly denied. Patel is personally suing The Atlantic for what he has called false reporting.
Patel says the trip to Milan was critical preparation for the World Cup.
"We learned a ton from Milan," he said.
THREAT ASSESSMENT
Separately, Reuters reviewed the 78-page FBI and DHS joint threat assessment from May for the World Cup, which illustrates the complexity of securing the tournament. It details myriad threats nationally and specific to each of the host cities and base camps and offers recommendations to local law enforcement in all 11 U.S. World Cup host cities.
It says attendance by Trump at matches will complicate security efforts and notes an increased threat to law enforcement and venue security if they are mistaken for National Guard or ICE immigration agents.
"Recent conflicts in the Middle East, such as with Iran, have resonated with some U.S.-based violent extremists and some hate crime perpetrators and could further exacerbate anti-U.S., anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, or anti-Muslim grievances," the assessment says.
The assessment specifically details concerns about Iran's two group matches at SoFi Stadium right outside Los Angeles, including violent protests from fans of the team or opponents of the Iranian government.
Patel said Iran was responsible for a cyber attack on the Los Angeles Metro in March that shut down parts of the system. The pro-Iran group Ababil of Minab claimed responsibility for the attack.
AIR PATEL
Patel has faced criticism by congressional Democrats for his use of government aircraft, and lawmakers have requested the Government Accountability Office investigate.
The accusations are unfair, said Patel. By law, he cannot fly commercial and must reimburse the bureau for personal travel.
According to FBI responses to the GAO, Patel has taken fewer personal flights than his two predecessors and has reimbursed the government as required.
The FBI told the GAO that Patel has made 11 trips to his personal residence in 2025, nearly half as many trips per year as former director Christopher Wray and more than a third fewer than former director James Comey.
The investigation remains ongoing and is expected to be finalized next year, a GAO spokesperson told Reuters.
He has also saved the agency millions of dollars flying out of Joint Base Andrews instead of Ronald Reagan National Airport, Patel said.
"We use military government airfields every chance we get," he said.
Reuters reimbursed the FBI for the reporter's one-way trip.
(Reporting by Jana Winter in Wasington, DC. Editing by Michael Learmonth and Rosalba O'Brien)
