Patel reveals the hidden security nightmare that comes with huge World Cup crowds

FBI Director Kash Patel has revealed a number of security concerns, including cyber threats, drones and the possibility of a lone wolf attack ahead of the World Cup, which will draw millions of tourists to North America.

Officials expect three million people to visit the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Of the 104 additional games for the 2026 World Cup, 78 games will be played in the US, and the remaining 26 will be split between its neighbors to the north and south.

The host countries are beefing up security and intelligence operations to safely organize the much-anticipated soccer matches in all 11 US host cities.

“Everything from traditional policing to the streets, talking to communities and saying, ‘Hey, do you guys know any bad actors? Have you ever heard of someone who might want to harm people or places?'” Patel told Fox News correspondent Brooke Taylor. “That’s our biggest security goal for us at the FBI.”

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In an effort to thwart any lone wolf actors, the FBI has created a special operations center at its headquarters to compile and analyze incoming data about potential threats.

“If we talk about cyber actors, those [are ones] intruders hack into our infrastructure and capture data for cash payments. So we’re taking all that information into one place and centralizing it, at least for us at the FBI, in part of our headquarters,” Patel said.

Patel added that apart from major national enemies such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, lone wolf threats are a major concern for national security.

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“Separate and besides, [those] who do the same jobs, or different players, lone wolves that exist, whether it’s online or in the violent crime scene,” he said. “So we’re relying a lot on the community and local people in the region and we’re asking them over and over again, ‘What do you see in cyberspace? What do you see in chat groups?’

Law enforcement is also increasingly focused on combating the online emboldening of people who may feel compelled to attack at home, Patel noted.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup winner’s trophy is on display at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, as the draw for the 2026 European World Cup qualifiers begins on Dec. 13, 2024. (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu)

Drones are another type of concern for government officials, given that they vary widely in size and can easily be operated by a pilot far from the target area.

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“What we at the FBI have been focusing on is teaching our state and domestic partners how we handle drones and how they can handle drones as well,” Patel said. “And collectively, it’s a force multiplier to have thousands of people out there, tens of thousands of police officers out there looking at the drone threat as it comes in, because it’s fast and powerful.”

To counter this, Patel revealed that the FBI has developed technology capable of disabling malfunctioning drones mid-flight, a tool they share with local law enforcement partners during recent special training programs.

The image shows the Department of Justice and FBI headquarters with an overlay of FBI Director Kash Patel. (Photos by Anna Moneymaker/Getty; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Among the domestic threats the FBI is tracking is a sharp increase in anti-lawyer violence. Patel pointed to a recent Hezbollah-inspired attack on a Michigan synagogue, in which a man packed his truck with gasoline and commercial explosives, drove into the building, and opened fire with an assault rifle before killing himself in a shootout with the temple’s private security team.

In the 14 months since the Trump administration took office, the FBI has arrested more than 45,000 violent criminals in an aggressive program to dismantle underground cells and violent networks across the country.

A general view of Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., ahead of the 2026 World Cup on May 11, 2026. (Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)

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The bureau also highlighted its recent success rate in tracking high-level international goals.

“The FBI arrested eight of the top ten [most wanted fugitives] in the world in 14 months,” said Patel, noting that the figure marks twice as many shootings as in the previous four years combined.