Report: How public safety agencies can tap drones to protect major events

State and local leaders are gearing up for millions of visitors to attend the 2026 FIFA World Cup to kick off next month. The global soccer tournament is anticipated to draw more than 5 million visitors to 11 U.S. cities, presenting a major public safety risk as officials recognize that bad actors could be looking to disrupt the large-scale event with unmanned aerial systems. 

With millions of people traveling through local jurisdictions, standing around stadiums and staying at hotels to follow the 48 competing teams, it could be nearly impossible for public safety personnel to monitor everything throughout the event, according to a recent report from the Center for Internet Security. 

That’s where unmanned aerial systems like drones and networks emerge as critical tools for state and local agencies to amplify their public safety surveillance and response capabilities, said John Cohen, executive director of CIS. 

For bad actors, “UAS presents a unique cyber threat vector by providing proximity-based access to networks and communications systems inside security perimeters that ground-based attackers cannot reach,” the report reads. For instance, the devices “can carry Wi-Fi exploitation tools, [radio frequency] jamming equipment or rogue access points to within meters of venue network infrastructure, stadium operations centers, or broadcast systems, bypassing the physical separation that underpins most venue cybersecurity architectures.” 

While drones can be leveraged by bad actors for harmful purposes, state and local leaders can use the same technology and infrastructure to combat such threats, Cohen said. 

Indeed, “effective counter-UAS security for large-scale events, and more broadly across the homeland, requires an intelligence-driven, layered and scalable approach,” the report states. “For most state and local agencies, the immediate priority is establishing baseline airspace awareness through widely deployable, cost effective technologies such as remote ID sensors and [radio frequency] detection.” 

The Los Angeles Police Department in California, for instance, is looking to leverage nearly $10 million in federal funds to establish a drone detection network in the city “to detect, identify, track and, where authorized, interrupt or neutralize drone activity,” according to a report from the city administrative officer. 

The funds, administered under the federal Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems grant program, will help the host city’s police department create a network of ground-based tools and interdiction devices for locating and halting illegal drone activity. Such tools include radio frequency sensors that can report a drone’s position, radar technology for detecting drones’ presence and sky-facing cameras that can confirm objects picked up by the sensor and radar devices. 

“No single technology is sufficient; resilience requires integrating multiple detection modalities with the threat and operational environment,” the report states.  

In fact, “for most state and local agencies, authorities are generally limited to detection, identification, tracking and reporting, while mitigation actions typically require federal authorization or coordination,” the CIS report reads. “Security planners must navigate these legal constraints while maintaining the ability to respond to genuine threats within the seconds-to-minutes timelines that drone incursions demand.” 

The New York State Police Department, for instance, plans to leverage drones as a first responder during the World Cup, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced earlier this year. New York will jointly host the World Cup finale at the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey and received more than $17 million in total federal funds for purchasing equipment and systems to manage drone threats. The NYSPD is receiving $5 million of that total to pilot a DFR program that will help staff more effectively prepare for and respond to situations that a DFR device can assess before personnel arrive at the scene, Hochul said. 

Cohen also underscored that no one agency with a drone system will be enough to manage large-scale events like the World Cup. 

“Whether you're talking about cyber threats, physical threats, or disruptive threats …  the security efforts [and] the response capabilities, don't just rely on the capabilities of one single entity,” he said. “If you're a state or local official, [consider] how you are using drones to improve your ability to maintain domain awareness of the location [or] your community that you’re trying to protect.”  

The report, for instance, suggests that public agencies develop response plans for not just the venue, but also “fan-specific zones or other watch party areas” by, for instance, “deploying mobile detection assets, establishing observation positions and creating crowd management protocols specific to open-perimeter environments.”

Public safety agencies should also ensure that they collaborate with other departments to inform such response plans. For example, agencies should communicate with 911 call centers, crime centers and other similar entities to develop protocols for staff to address drone-related reports, including how to triage, escalate and dispatch responders to the threat, according to the CIS findings. 

Other partners could include the jurisdiction’s IT department, emergency management personnel, venue security teams and others, according to the report. Cohen noted that response plan participants should conduct tabletop exercises and rehearse protocols ahead of any major event to ensure a smoother implementation when an actual threat occurs. 

The report findings are particularly relevant for the upcoming World Cup, but Cohen said that state and local leaders should leverage the report’s findings to help inform their approach to future large-scale events where the public’s safety and wellbeing is vulnerable to disruption or harm. 

“From a law enforcement and homeland security perspective, we need to be much more adaptive and evolve our operational protocols much more rapidly because, if we don't, then the threat actor is going to win,” Cohen said.