The World Cup is Over, But Pentagon's After Action Review Is Just Beginning

Buried deep in the Department of War’s (DOW’s) Fiscal Year 2027 budget request, is an indication that the Pentagon used the preparations for the FIFA World Cup as a readiness exercise to train for coalition combat. The Operations and Maintenance Justification Book notes a request to Congress for over $216 million for “Mission Partner Environment.” The explanation goes on to call out successful applications of this program in “establishing a common information-sharing environment for the United States, Canada, and Mexico during the World Cup,” comparing the experience to allied force communications in Ukraine. Thanks to this one line, we know that DOW quietly used a major world sporting event as a proof of concept for operational testing of command and control (C2) systems. 

The Mission Partner Environment (MPE) has been a program of record for several years with hundreds of millions of dollars going to stalwart defense contractors Booz Allen, General Dynamics, as well as relative neo-primes Trace Systems and SOS International. Army doctrine defines MPE as: “a structured framework that supports the planning, training, and execution of operations between mission partners across all five Joint operational phases, the full range of military operations, and all domains.” But despite a tranche of buzzwords (data centricity, zero-trust, cloud based solutions) and 60 page Command and Staff Guides, it’s not clear what MPE is, or what it has to do with soccer. 

Mission Partner Environment is the Pentagon’s solution to coordinating with coalition partners when each team comes to the fight with different communications hardware, information systems, and security architectures. In simple terms, MPE is a classified cloud, managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), that allows coalition partners to join a common operating picture. That means streamlining Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance and extending Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) to coalition partners. 

If there is anything as logistically complicated as war, it would be the World Cup, with 48 national teams participating in 104 matches across three countries, including 11 U.S. cities. Each U.S. based match is designated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a National Special Security Event (NSSE). An NSSE is a designation created by President Clinton in 1998, for particular events needing protection from unconventional threats, including counterterrorism support and “terrorist apprehension and prosecution, increased transportation security, enhanced emergency response, and enhanced cybersecurity.” These are common occurrences for States of the Union, U.N. General Assemblies, and other high profile events. While DHS was the lead agency for such designation coordination, it was a multi-agency process with the Department of War being a key player, as well as FEMA, which issued a $625 million grant for World Cup security. 

But with traditional reporters no longer allowed in the Pentagon Press Room, we don’t know the full extent of DOW's involvement in World Cup preparations. We have seen a statement from USNORTHCOM that they are engaged and providing defense support to civil authorities. We also know that Joint Interagency Task Force 401 is providing over $100 million to support enhanced counter-UAS capability at each of the 11 U.S. stadiums. Now we know that somewhere in the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process the DOW also provided MPE support. Presumably, this was done collaboratively with DHS and with “coalition” partners Canada and Mexico. 

The theory follows that DOW saw the World Cup as a complex, multinational, high threat, proving ground. Using the NSSE process as a training simulation in the real world, with actual deadlines and real stakes, this global sporting event provided an opportunity to wargame MPE in a way that no mere field training exercise could. Coalition interoperability is a key advantage that the U.S. has with its partners, particularly at NATO. This joint training with Canada and Mexico, and potentially others, could have real lessons for our warfighters in the Pacific or on the ground in Eastern Europe. The role that MPE played in the World Cup protection plan deserves more than a footnote in a budget document.

Still, there are many open questions. Will we see expanded DOW involvement in the 2028 LA Olympics? Does Congress have sufficient visibility into DOW’s support, even if the public doesn’t? Where do counter-UAS operations fall with respect to the Posse Comitatus Act? For now, it’s good to know that despite the Administration’s apparent disdain for coalition partners and allies, our armed forces continue to train how they should be fighting: in teams as large and diverse as possible.