2026-06-11T10:02:43.44Z / https://www.reuters.com/world/kash-patel-fbis-defining-test-securing-world-cup-2026-06-11/
联邦调查局专机讯，6月11日路透社电 本届将于周四揭幕的世界杯共有48支球队、36个大本营和11座体育场，是联邦调查局有史以来面临的最大规模安全挑战之一。
而这还没算上包括国家元首在内的300万游客，更不必说无人机、间谍、恐怖分子、醉酒球迷、贩毒集团或烟花等各类威胁。
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“这是一项艰巨任务，可能是联邦调查局历史上、乃至美国历史上规模最大的安保任务，”联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔在专机上的飞行途中采访中说道。
在5月底的一次广泛采访中，帕特尔从马里兰州安德鲁斯联合基地飞往达拉斯出席一场执法会议，他谈到了联邦调查局为这项全球最大体育赛事所做的全面准备，尽管当时正处于争议之中，且频繁有报道称他可能很快被解职。
现年46岁的帕特尔于2025年2月就任联邦调查局局长，已经主持了多项重大调查，包括查理·柯克谋杀案。但他表示，没有哪项挑战能比得上大型体育赛事——这类活动中恐怖主义和其他威胁风险极高。
“我上任第一周抵达联邦调查局时就说过，我们必须为奥运会、世界杯、两场一级方程式大奖赛和超级碗做准备，”他说。联邦调查局与国土安全部最终负责赛事安保，“不仅是在美国境内，海外也同样如此”，他补充道。
作为本届世界杯美国国内的牵头情报机构（美国与加拿大、墨西哥联合举办本届赛事），联邦调查局同时也依赖州和地方执法部门的支持。联邦调查局负责对球员、教练和工作人员进行30万份背景调查，而州和地方当局则负责场馆外的安保工作，并协助开展反无人机措施。
反无人机培训
他表示，无人机是赛事和主办城市面临的最大威胁之一。联邦调查局于2025年10月启动了反无人机培训项目，迄今已为美国主办城市的70名当地警察提供了相关培训。
无人机是“那些想要发动敌对袭击的人可以低成本、远距离、无需过多筹划实施袭击的最主要方式之一”，帕特尔说道。
联邦调查局还组建了联合行动中心，邀请48个参赛国中的46个国家（伊朗和海地除外）的警方前来，以分享来自本国的实时威胁信息。
他表示，该模式类似于2026年米兰冬季奥运会期间设立的联合行动中心，当时美国官员与意大利警方协调配合，保护美国游客和运动员。
那次米兰之行中，帕特尔还与获得金牌的美国冰球队一同庆祝，在更衣室里唱歌、喷洒啤酒，并将总统唐纳德·特朗普的电话开了免提。这一行为遭到广泛批评，一些批评人士将其描述为动用纳税人资金的奥运会公费旅游。
当时还有多家媒体报道称其存在过度饮酒行为，帕特尔和联邦调查局对此坚决否认。帕特尔本人已就《大西洋月刊》的所谓虚假报道提起诉讼。
帕特尔表示，米兰之行对世界杯筹备至关重要。
“我们从米兰学到了很多，”他说。
威胁评估
此外，路透社查阅了联邦调查局和国土安全部5月份发布的78页世界杯联合威胁评估报告，该报告展现了保障这项赛事的复杂性。报告详细列出了全国范围内以及各主办城市和大本营的各类威胁，并向美国11座世界杯主办城市的当地执法部门提供了建议。
报告指出，特朗普出席赛事将给安保工作增添复杂性，并提到如果执法人员和场馆安保人员被误认为国民警卫队或移民海关执法局的移民官员，他们面临的威胁将会增加。
“近期中东地区的冲突，比如与伊朗的冲突，引发了部分美国国内暴力极端分子和一些仇恨犯罪肇事者的共鸣，可能进一步加剧反美、反以色列、反犹太或反穆斯林的不满情绪，”报告中写道。
报告特别提到了对伊朗队在洛杉矶郊外的索菲体育场进行的两场小组赛的担忧，包括伊朗队球迷或伊朗政府反对者发起的暴力抗议。
帕特尔表示，伊朗在3月份发动了针对洛杉矶地铁的网络攻击，导致该系统部分路段瘫痪。支持伊朗的米纳巴布abil组织宣称对此次袭击负责。
航空出行争议
帕特尔因使用政府专机遭到国会民主党议员的批评，议员们已要求美国政府问责局展开调查。
帕特尔表示，这些指控并不公平。根据法律规定，他不能乘坐商业航班，且必须自费报销私人出行的费用。
根据联邦调查局向政府问责局提交的答复，帕特尔的私人飞行次数比前两任局长都少，且已按要求向政府报销了相关费用。
联邦调查局向政府问责局透露，帕特尔在2025年共有11次飞往其私人住宅的行程，每年的行程数量几乎仅为前局长克里斯托弗·雷的一半，比前局长詹姆斯·科米少三分之一以上。
政府问责局发言人告诉路透社，调查仍在进行中，预计将于明年完成。
帕特尔还表示，他选择从安德鲁斯联合基地而非罗纳德·里根国家机场起飞，为该机构节省了数百万美元。
“我们尽可能多地使用军用政府机场，”他说。
路透社已就记者的单程行程向联邦调查局支付了费用。
由华盛顿特区的亚娜·温特报道。迈克尔·勒尔穆思和罗莎尔巴·奥布莱恩编辑。
Exclusive: Kash Patel on the FBI’s defining test: securing the World Cup
2026-06-11T10:02:43.44Z / https://www.reuters.com/world/kash-patel-fbis-defining-test-securing-world-cup-2026-06-11/
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.
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“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