Security at the World Cup

(oslobodjene.ba)

The Iranian national football team left Mexico on June 30 after being eliminated from the World Cup, thus relieving the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is leading the prevention and protection project at the tournament, which - due to threats from terrorism, drones, cyberattacks and violent protests - has been identified as the biggest security challenge for the three organizers, the US, Canada and Mexico. The tournament was also accompanied by problems off the field, given that Iran's request to play all its matches in Mexico was denied, but their training camp was nevertheless moved from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, and some members of the coaching staff were denied US visas. US authorities also rejected Iran's request to travel to the US two days before the matches in Los Angeles, although they partially relaxed restrictions for the final match. During the championship, the Iranian national team avoided direct comments about the war, but paid tribute to the victims of the rocket attack on the Elementary School in the city of Minab, in the south of Iran at the beginning of the conflict, and the players in the locker room of the stadium in Los Angeles, where they played against Belgium, left a message of peace among all nations. The organizers were most afraid of the so-called terrorism. lone wolves, which represents a form of politically or ideologically motivated violence that individuals plan and carry out independently, without direct orders, logistical or financial support from wider terrorist organizations - but so far their space for action has been narrowed.

The World Cup is drawing to a close (the final is on July 19), and with it will come the end of an unprecedented security effort that requires the coordination of hundreds of agencies and a completely new architecture for risk management at the global sports level. The competition, which already requires a huge level of organization and logistics, this time with 48 national teams, 36 base camps, 11 stadiums and around 10 million fans, is sure to remain one of the most demanding and security-risky sporting events in recent history. Several more matches will be played and security measures are still in place in stadiums, assembly areas and traffic routes, as well as the coordination of several services, especially in the prevention and protection of terrorism. The complex political situation in the world, largely caused by US President Donald Trump, has further complicated the unprecedented task for US police and secret services. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which operates within the US Department of Justice, has been well prepared for the World Cup, having detected potential sources of violence even before the first matches. The FBI conducted 300.000 security checks on players, coaches and staff, while state and local authorities in the cities where the matches were played were responsible for maintaining order outside the facilities. The central office has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal laws, and forazUnlike the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has no law enforcement authority and is focused on gathering relevant information abroad, the FBI is primarily a domestic agency that maintains 56 field offices in major US cities.

When Kash Patel, a veteran police officer originally from Uganda, was appointed FBI director last year, he said he knew World Cup security was his career goal, but he had the organizational knowledge and skills to coordinate it successfully. Patel said the security model for the World Cup was similar to the one established in cooperation with Italian police for the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in February, which served as a key training ground for protecting American visitors and athletes. The FBI director said intelligence sharing was happening in real time, and international partners like Morocco, which have expertise in securing major sporting events, also play a key role in the International Police Cooperation Center (IPCC). Police officers from the participating countries also play an important role, as they were (or still are) present in the USA, Canada and Mexico, to help communicate with their own fans, de-escalate conflicts and provide support to local security agencies. In the four cities where our national team played at the World Cup, there was a group of BiH police officers, but there was no reason for them to react to their American or Canadian colleagues, because our fans, US citizens, behaved patriotically without violating local laws. The police did not react in Santa Clara, California, when BiH fans at one point started chanting “Palestine, Palestine”, although the Americans did not like this, considering that the USA supports Israel, which in the last conflict almost destroyed the Gaza Strip, where two million Palestinians live.