The next several years could test public safety drone operations across the United States like never before. The FIFA World Cup is coming to North America in 2026, with many of those matches being hosted across the United States. The country's 250th birthday celebration is around the corner. And the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles loom on the horizon. These high-profile, highly attended events will push agencies to prove that UAS programs can deliver under the most demanding conditions, where operational reliability, security, and public trust all converge.
To help the public safety community prepare for these challenges, Commercial UAV News is hosting a panel webinar on February 10 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time entitled From Cities to Stadiums: Managing Public Safety UAS at Major Events. The discussion will bring together experts with direct experience managing drone operations and counter-UAS security at major events, offering practical insights into what works, what's changing, and what agencies need to focus on now.
Panelists include Tom Adams, director of public safety at DroneShield; Jason Day, UAS Program Manager for Texas Department of Public Safety and Deputy Director of Training for DRONERESPONDERS; and Michelle Duquette, Founder and CEO of 3 MAD Air. The webinar will be moderated by Matt Collins, Content Manager at CUAV News.
Registration is free, and all registrants will receive access to an on-demand recording of the discussion if they can't attend live.
The conversation will address some of the most pressing questions facing public safety agencies as they prepare for these events. How do agencies scale operations to cover multiple simultaneous venues? What does coordination look like when local, state, and federal entities all have overlapping responsibilities? How are agencies balancing the need to operate their own drones for surveillance and situational awareness while also protecting against potentially hostile drones? And with recent regulatory changes expanding counter-UAS authorities and ongoing uncertainty around foreign-made drones, how should agencies be thinking about technology procurement and deployment strategies?
The webinar will also examine how cutting-edge capabilities are changing operational planning. AI-enabled threat detection and classification systems are becoming more sophisticated, but questions remain about the balance between automation and human decision-making in these kinds of high-pressure situations. BVLOS operations could expand what's possible at large venues, but agencies need to understand what new risks or coordination challenges this introduces. And with FEMA awarding $250 million in counter-UAS grants to World Cup host states, there are real strategic decisions to make about how these resources get deployed most effectively.
One of the most important pieces of the discussion will focus on public perception and transparency. Agencies are operating in a complex environment where they need to communicate both the value of their drone programs and the protective measures they're taking, without creating panic or revealing operational details. The panelists will speak to how agencies can maintain public trust while scaling up capabilities for major events, drawing on real-world experience managing community concerns about surveillance, privacy, and operational transparency.
Throughout the hour, the panelists will share lessons learned from past major events and discuss what they'll be watching most closely as the World Cup, US250, and Olympics unfold. These events will generate new insights about what works at scale, what assumptions need to be revisited, and what capabilities the public safety community should prioritize as drone technology and regulations continue to evolve.
Whether you're with an agency preparing for one of these major events or simply looking to understand where public safety UAS operations are headed, this webinar will provide timely and practical insights from professionals who are working directly on these challenges right now.
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