VIDEO: Capito Participates in Hearing on 2026 FIFA World Cup Preparations

To watch Senator Capito's questions, click hereor the image above.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, participated in a hearing to review 2026 FIFA World Cup preparations.

HIGHLIGHTS:

ROLE OF CJIS AT FIFA WORLD CUP

Senator Capito:

"The FBI's Criminal Justice Information Division is actually located in Harrison County in West Virginia, […] It's the central repository for national crime, data, biometrics, and identification services. So, we house several really important issues. I'm proud of that work that West Virginians do and perform at CJIS in Clarksburg. They have a simple mission, which is to combat complex threats and to equip law enforcement and intelligence partners with essential criminal justice information. Special agent, do you plan to utilize CJIS for threat intelligence and personnel screening?"

Douglas Olson, Special Agent in Charge, Portland Field Office and FBI Senior Coordinating Official on the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, Federal Bureau of Investigation:

"We're very proud of the work that's being done by our teams in West Virginia, and we're actually leveraging their resources right now as we speak. The FBI is conducting name checks at FIFA's request for individuals seeking accredited access to FIFA World Cup venues. DHS is a huge partner in this because they handle the intake of those name checks, but those checks are being processed through CJS's systems to ensure that everyone working behind the scenes that these venues is checked out and safe to being there for close encounters with the public."

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AMONG GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Senator Capito:

"I was, […] thinking about the interoperability, all of you have mentioned how important our local partners are, local police, city police, county deputies, and sheriffs, and then on to the state police, as you go up the chain. I was thinking about Butler, Pennsylvania, and one of the outcomes of that was, it appeared that there was, not great interoperability between the locals and the Secret Service in that particular venue. I'm wondering, Director Tomney how do you overcome that hurdle? I'm sure you've thought about it a lot and probably it looked into that incident to see where the failures might have been. How do you respond to that on the communications because it has to be so instantaneous and interoperable?"

Christopher J. Tomney, RADM USCG (Ret.), Director, Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness, Department of Homeland Security:

"We do rely quite heavily on our state and local partners, and again, the state and locals are in charge of the security. We, the feds, support them. One of the ways to build that enduring partnership is you get to be down in the trenches with them. That's why these federal coordinators been in place for well over a year. They are senior leaders who come from that local community, so they do have those long-term relationships. Again, you know, Special Agent Olsen has talked about that great work relationship between the FBI and DHS. He and I speak multiple times every week. All three of us, along with our additional interagency colleagues, we meet weekly with the White House task force. But from a safety and security standpoint, DHS and FBI are the co-leads for the interagency. My staff and his staff are talking multiple times every single day."

Click HERE to watch Senator Capito's full round of questioning.

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