Winning Team Ensures Safe Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas
The Kansas City Chiefs may have taken home the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 11 as the Super Bowl LVIII victors over the San Francisco 49ers, but CISA Region 9’s all-star team of protective security advisors, cybersecurity advisors, emergency communications coordinators, and operations, outreach and administrative professionals were the true winners. The team kept a watchful eye for any potential danger and risks to critical infrastructure in and around Allegiant Stadium from five command posts throughout Las Vegas. During the week leading up to the big event, the team also supported Super Bowl Experience, the interactive fan activity event at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
Region 9 Supervisory Protective Security Advisor Gonzalo Cordova served as the Alternate Deputy Federal Coordinator, responsible for assisting the coordination of all federal agencies supporting the SEAR 1 event.
The CISA Region 9 team prepared for Super Bowl LVIII for more than a year. This was the third consecutive Super Bowl to take place in the region – the past two were in Los Angeles and Glendale, Arizona – which meant that R9 staff were seasoned pros at supporting the big game. Leveraging its regional relationships with stakeholders, the CISA Region 9 team provided local partners an expansive suite of protective measures, which hardened physical and cyber security, and emergency communications interoperability. These efforts included conducting 25 Infrastructure Survey Tool and 12 Infrastructure Visualization Platform assessments on the 65,000-seat stadium and nearby critical facilities that support commercial business, healthcare and utilities. The team also assisted the Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP) with four Explosive Blast Modeling assessments. Additionally, OBP held numerous bombing prevention training workshops and deployed the Ready Armor Protection for Instant Deployment (RAPID) wall—a portable blast resistant barrier—to the site of the NFL Honors event.
Clark County Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Brian O’Neal said that he and his fellow local public safety counterparts lean heavily on CISA during big events like this.
“(CISA) is one of our most important partners. They have the best idea of the federal resources coming in to support our local events,” O’Neal said. “We rely on them to develop the network of contacts and the understanding of capabilities and resources coming in, and the requirements those resources need.
“We know what we have locally, but for these big SEAR 1 events that have a lot of federal engagement, we don’t necessarily know what that’s going to look like, but they do,” he said.
The Region 9 team also worked closely with the National Football League (NFL), hosting a cybersecurity tabletop exercise at Allegiant Stadium, participating in a cybersecurity and intelligence summit, and offering cybersecurity tips to local entrepreneurs during the NFL’s Business Connect event.
During Super Bowl Week, the Region 9 emergency communications team coordinated local public safety agencies’ participation in the RF War Games at Allegiant Stadium. The drill allowed public safety, and radio and television broadcast communications professionals the opportunity to test and deconflict radio frequency (RF) interoperability prior to the big event. As the nation’s most-watched sporting event, the Super Bowl garners significant attention from media outlets, all using RF signals to air the game. The event addressed any potential interference issues.
“The level of skill, experience, and, most importantly, passion our people have for keeping our country safe never fails to amaze me,” said CISA Region 9 Director David Rosado. “CISA as a whole, and certainly Region 9 personnel, are truly the best at what they do – namely, increasing the security and resilience of the critical infrastructure that we all rely on each and every day.”
The Region 9 team will get a brief reprieve as Super Bowl LIX will take place next year in New Orleans, before returning to the region in Santa Clara, California in 2026.
Photo captions:
Allegiant Stadium was the site of Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
Allegiant Stadium was the site of Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
(l-r) CISA Region 9 Protective Security Advisor Brian Keith and Cybersecurity Advisor Jake Aguiar monitor critical infrastructure from the Multi-Agency Command Center in Las Vegas during Super Bowl LVIII Week.
(l-r) CISA Region 9 Cybersecurity Advisor May Acosta and Protective Security Advisor Dorothy Savola monitor critical infrastructure from the Multi-Agency Command Center in Las Vegas during Super Bowl LVIII Week.
(l-r) CISA Region 9 Protective Security Advisors Edgar Castor and Scott Mitchem monitor critical infrastructure from the Super Bowl NFL Headquarters command post in Las Vegas during Super Bowl LVIII Week.
CISA Region 9 Emergency Communications Coordinator Artena Moon (center) and local public safety partners participate in the RF War Games drill at Allegiant Stadium to test emergency communications interoperability.
CISA Region 9 Protective Security Advisor Matthew Crymble keeps a watchful eye at the Super Bowl Experience fan event at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The CISA Region 9 team, along with the Clark County Fire Department, keep fans and visitors safe during Super Bowl Week.