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

Republicans are warning that the ongoing Democratic-led stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding could jeopardize security preparations for the FIFA World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting this summer. The DHS funding impasse arrives at a uniquely dangerous moment — with Iran retaliating against U.S. military strikes, the FBI on elevated domestic terror alert after the Austin mass shooting, and the Secret Service already stretched thin protecting high-profile targets nationwide. The convergence of a government shutdown affecting the primary domestic security agency, an active military conflict that has raised the threat level at home, and the approach of the world's largest sporting event on American soil creates what security experts describe as a worst-case scenario for homeland defense planning.