Patel: FBI Interdicted More Than 700 Unauthorized Drones Securing the World Cup
July 22, 2026 · FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation · 0:01:56
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
FBI Director Kash Patel told interviewer Sean Hannity that an adversary willing to harm Americans at the World Cup does not need much money and can buy a drone online, and described what the FBI built in response, according to Patel. He said that, thanks to President Trump, the bureau resourced and stood up the first-ever drone program school to train state and local officials months before the World Cup at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, according to the interview.
Patel said the FBI’s ground intercept teams interdicted more than 700 drones at all 11 World Cup venues over 38 days, and that the bureau stood up mobile command centers at each venue and deployed tactical operators, SWAT, and bomb technicians, according to Patel.
Patel said two elements the world did not see were a joint operations center at headquarters drawing on lessons from Milan, staffed around the clock by the interagency, and an International Police Cooperation Center in Northern Virginia that hosted police officers from every participating nation for two months, alongside an intelligence coordination center embedding the White House task force partners, DHS, FEMA, FAA, Secret Service, ATF, and DOJ, according to Patel. He said the bureau cut more than 100 intelligence reports — the largest dissemination for a World Cup ever — and called the event the largest sporting event in human history, the largest FBI deployment for a duration ever, and the safest and most secure World Cup in history, according to Patel.
Why it matters
The account gives the bureau’s own after-action numbers for the tournament — 700-plus drone interdictions, 11 venues, 100-plus intelligence reports — as stated by its director.
Sources: FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, “FBI Director Kash Patel: How the FBI Successfully Secured the World Cup and Seized Illegal Drones”, 2026-07-22 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-07-22). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.
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