New York Governor Kathy Hochul called yesterday for President Donald Trump to boost federal defences against drone attacks, saying events like the World Cup and the US 250th anniversary celebrations are ‘prime targets’.
She noted that next summer, “the New York area will be the epicentre for multiple high-profile events, including the World Cup, the flotilla of Tall Ships, International Naval Review, the largest ever Macy’s fireworks show, and America’s 250th birthday celebration, which will present prime targets”.
“We need a comprehensive federal strategy that not only dramatically improves drone detection capabilities nationally but also provides robust, multi-layered mitigation measures,” Hochul said in a letter to Trump released yesterday.
She said the government needed to do a better job of protecting ‘critical infrastructure like population centres, utilities and military assets.”
Hochul urged the White House to take action, citing a series of incidents last year and the mounting use of drones in the war in Ukraine and other trouble spots around the world.
The White House did not immediately comment. Last month, Trump established a federal task force to ensure US control over American skies, expand restrictions over sensitive sites, expand federal use of technology to detect drones in real time and provide assistance to state and local law enforcement.
The Fifa World Cup final will be held on July 19, 2026, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, about 30km from New York City.
“An attack against strategic military and critical infrastructure in New York poses an urgent danger to the United States,” Hochul said. “The reality is that the federal government is unprepared and poorly postured to detect and mitigate (drone) threats and states are hamstrung by a lack of legislative authority and action by the Federal Aviation Administration.”
Last month, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Trump also aims to address the ‘growing threat of criminal terrorists and foreign misuse of drones in US airspace’.
He said the country was ‘securing our borders from national security threats, including in the air, with large-scale public events such as the Olympics and the World Cup on the horizon’.
Los Angeles will host the Olympics in the summer of 2028.
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