DHS Shutdown Threatens FIFA World Cup Security as Iran War Consumes Federal Resources

The Department of Homeland Security is marking its 23rd anniversary amid a partial government shutdown and a new Middle Eastern military campaign — a convergence that Republicans warn could jeopardize security preparations for the FIFA World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting this summer. The DHS funding impasse arrives at what security experts describe as a worst-case scenario: an active military conflict that has raised the domestic terror threat level, the FBI on elevated alert after the Austin mass shooting, the Secret Service stretched thin, and the approach of the world's largest sporting event on American soil. The irony of the homeland security agency facing a budget crisis on the very anniversary of its post-9/11 creation is lost on no one in Washington.