Why the 2026 World Cup is the Biggest National Security Test of Trump’s Second Term
The FIFA World Cup is coming to a city near you next month, and the Trump administration has to manage three key threats: terrorism, Ebola, and and sex-trafficking.
Frank Figliuzzi hosts The Frank Figliuzzi Show on Lincoln Square. He is an FBI Assistant Director (retired); 25-year veteran Special Agent; and author of the national bestseller, The FBI Way, and Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers. Subscribe to his Substack.
This summer, North America will host what many call the world’s greatest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup. For the first time, three countries will host this world-wide championship of what Americans call soccer and everyone else knows as football.
From June 11 to July 19, eleven U.S. cities — three cities in Mexico, and two in Canada will greet visitors from across the globe coming to cheer on 48 teams in 80 matches — the largest World Cup in history.
The size and scope of this gargantuan competition present giant-sized challenges for national security, law enforcement, and public health professionals. You won’t see their efforts on the soccer pitch, but planners are diligently working to address a long list of concerns that make what happens on the field look like child’s play.
Here are just three of the issues officials are focused on behind the scenes; two of them may pose the greatest security challenges in President Trump’s tenure.
First, there’s terrorism. it’s all hands-on deck for local, county, and state officials, supported by federal agencies like the FBI, U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security, to keep the worst from happening in eleven of America’s greatest cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle.