What It Takes to Secure the 2026 World Cup

Ghattas: As major events rely more heavily on interconnected digital and physical systems, World Cup planners are likely using cyber-physical scenario simulations to understand how disruptions can cascade across operations. These exercises focus less on predicting a single failure and more on stress-testing how systems, agencies, and decision-makers respond when multiple dependencies are disrupted at the same time.

Digital twins are increasingly used across industries to run “what if” scenarios. The same should occur at all World Cup venues before the event even begins. Planners can model crowd movement after transit disruptions, rehearse responses to cyber-enabled physical attacks, and assess how outages in power, communications or surveillance could affect safety and mobility. The goal is to reduce uncertainty and shorten response times before real-world consequences are on the line. Capabilities in this regard vary from host city to host city.

Drone and airspace security concerns

SIW: The federal government has emphasized counter-UAS planning ahead of major events. What makes drones such a uniquely difficult threat to manage, and how are authorities approaching detection, identification and response without disrupting legitimate activity?

Ghattas: Drones are uniquely difficult to manage at major events because they sit at the intersection of legitimate recreational use and real security risk. They are inexpensive, widely accessible and easy to operate, yet even small systems can cause serious harm in dense environments. At the scale of the World Cup, where venues are surrounded by public spaces and complex airspace activity, distinguishing between benign and threatening behavior becomes especially challenging.

Authorities are increasingly focused on early detection, identification and context-driven response. The priority is not simply spotting a drone, but understanding what it is doing, where it is going and whether its behavior indicates risk. That requires persistent airspace awareness and the ability to share insights across agencies in real time.

Hidden Level’s technology and capabilities support an approach like this by providing continuous monitoring of low-altitude airspace, allowing officials to assess intent and respond proportionally. The goal is to intervene early when behavior becomes concerning, while minimizing disruption to lawful activity and keeping public safety at the forefront.

AI and digital twin applications

SIW: AI-driven analytics and digital twins are being discussed more frequently in public safety circles. In practical terms, how are these technologies improving situational awareness and decision-making for large-scale events?

Ghattas: At large-scale events, speed and clarity matter. AI-driven analytics and digital twins are changing how public safety teams detect, understand and respond to risk. Digital twins provide a real-time virtual view of the event environment as well as the opportunity to test for vulnerabilities and gaps before an event begins; while AI analyzes live inputs such as crowd density, video feeds and sensor data to surface patterns and flag emerging issues.

The result is faster insight. Instead of reacting to fragmented information, decision-makers gain a shared, predictive view of what is happening and what may happen next. That shift enables quicker, more confident decisions and more coordinated responses when seconds matter.

Information sharing and intelligence fusion

SIW: With so many agencies and private partners involved, how is information sharing being structured to ensure the right data reaches the right people without overwhelming operators or introducing new risks?

Ghattas: At events of this scale, the challenge is not access to information but ensuring the right information reaches the right people at the right time. With dozens of agencies and private partners involved, unstructured sharing can overwhelm operators and lead to conflicting interpretations of what is happening on the ground.

Information sharing is increasingly organized around a common operating picture that serves as a single source of truth. Additive platforms like Booz Allen’s Sit(x) ingest information from various sensors and translates data into an easy-to-understand format. This allows federal, state, local and on-scene teams to work from the same real-time view while tailoring what each role sees based on mission needs. By fusing and prioritizing data from multiple sources, analytics and automation help filter noise and surface actionable insights, enabling clearer coordination and faster, more confident decisions in rapidly evolving situations.

Lessons for everyday security operations

SIW: Beyond the World Cup, what lessons from this level of planning and coordination should resonate with security professionals responsible for transportation hubs, campuses or other high-traffic public venues year-round?

Ghattas: One of the clearest lessons from World Cup-level planning is that shared situational awareness and coordinated response should not be reserved for marquee events. Transportation hubs, campuses and other high-traffic public spaces face many of the same challenges every day, including dense crowds, overlapping jurisdictions and threats that can move quickly across physical and digital domains.

What large-scale event planning reinforces is the value of discipline and preparation. Aligning partners early, rehearsing scenarios, and operating from a common operating picture allows teams to respond with confidence instead of improvisation. The World Cup underscores that these capabilities are long-term investments in resilience, not one-time efforts, and when they are embedded into daily operations, organizations are better prepared to protect public safety every day, not just on the world stage.