With semifinals between France and Spain and Argentina and England, and the World Cup final scheduled for the weekend, the United States strengthened the security deployment at the tournament venues. The scheme, involving federal, state and local forces, was examined on Infobae al Mediodía by specialist Andrei Serbin Pont, who explained how an architecture designed to minimize any risk inside and outside the stadiums works.
Using the operation implemented in Kansas during the last matches held there as an example, Serbin Pont said the deployment reflects the logic maintained at all venues. “The security deployment will have at least 1,600 officers positioned in the area,” he explained, and clarified that the goal is not only to guard the stadiums but also to protect hotels, delegations, fan fests and other public gathering points.
A security architecture that goes far beyond the stadiums
According to the specialist, the operation begins long before entry to the pitch. “Hotels have a perimeter area to protect them from any drone activity in the zone. A drone is not necessarily a lethal threat to someone, but it is also a matter of privacy, protection and operational security,” he noted.
Escorted convoys are added to that scheme for team transfers and screens are installed to make it harder to see the areas where the squads remain. “The United States will be deploying those perimeters around hotels and securing them with different mechanisms, even screens that try to obscure visibility of the areas where the two teams are kept,” he explained.
Serbin Pont also recalled that one of the main investments made for the World Cup was the incorporation of anti-drone systems and emphasized that the deployment goes well beyond the stadium perimeter. “This not only applies around the hotel or the pitch. It also applies to the fan fests, which have their own designated drone perimeter and a device with rapid reaction forces,” he said.
More than 400 agencies coordinated and a response prepared for any scenario
The analyst highlighted that the magnitude of the operation lies in the coordination among agencies with very different functions. “There are 400 agencies in total coordinating. That is why we are talking about an investment of approximately one billion dollars,” he said.
The scheme integrates local and state police with federal agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and specialized units of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Regarding the latter, he explained that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) tactical groups were incorporated to broaden the response capacity for high-complexity situations.
“What they need is to have the greatest number of resources and personnel available in case of an emergency,” he said. Among the scenarios contemplated is the possibility of an active shooter, a type of attack that, he indicated, “is probably one of the situations that has worried the most during this World Cup.” Faced with that hypothesis, he added, “the idea is to have multiple rapid response groups that can react immediately.”
Snipers, deterrence and constant surveillance
The deployment also includes snipers positioned in strategic locations within the stadiums, a common practice at major sporting events held in the United States.
“Sniper nests are already customary. Most stadiums have a designated space so they can monitor everything happening in the stands and on the pitch,” Serbin Pont explained. He detailed that these teams operate in pairs composed of a shooter and an observer, while others remain hidden to expand surveillance capacity.
He even offered a remark that summarizes the logic of the deployment: “The sniper they find is usually the one they want you to think they found.” For the specialist, the visibility of part of the deployment also serves a preventive function. “In these types of situations, presence contributes to deterrence,” he said, explaining why most officers work fully identified.
The challenge of controlling mixed crowds and preventing incidents
Beyond extraordinary threats, Serbin Pont warned that one of the main challenges is coexistence among supporters of different teams within the same stadium. Unlike in other countries, the United States does not have strict physical separation between rival fan sections.
“You can have multiple hotspots and it is difficult to control precisely because they are pockets. You do not need a generalized group of violent people: it is enough for some individuals to create tense situations,” he explained.
In his view, the increase in the number of officers also responds to that reality. “The rise in agents assigned to event security, I think, is aimed at having sufficient human resources to handle a tense situation or something larger,” he added.
During the program, journalist Flavia Pittella also described the level of control observed in the stands. She said that each section had security staff continuously supervising public behavior and that any flag was inspected before being allowed inside. In that context, Serbin Pont confirmed that for the Argentina vs England match the ban on bringing flags referencing the Falkland Islands was reinforced and recalled that the measure had been ratified by the Minister of Security.
A system designed to minimize the margin of error
Although he acknowledged that the main alerts related to possible terrorist attacks decreased as the tournament progressed, Serbin Pont said U.S. authorities maintain the same level of preparedness because the goal is to minimize any possibility of incident.
“I do not believe we are in an alert situation. But when you host an event like this you want to make sure from every angle that there is no margin for error,” he said. For that reason, he explained, during the decisive matches it is to be expected that there will be a greater police presence, private security personnel and tactical units deployed in the surroundings of the stadiums and in fan areas.
The specialist also recalled that the preventive scheme began even before the competition started. “It was already known before the World Cup began the list of 33,000 people who would not be allowed into any of the stadiums,” he said. For Serbin Pont, that prior planning, combined with the coordination among hundreds of agencies and intensive use of technology, explains why the United States mounted one of the most ambitious protection deployments ever accompanying a World Cup.
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