K9s, snipers and BearCats: How New Orleans is prepping to keep the Super Bowl safe

CNN

06-02-2025

Security for the Super Bowl in New Orleans will feature more boots on the ground, more tech and more intelligence – spearheaded by a federal official who grew up 40 miles from where kickoff will take place.
Eric DeLaune, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations' New Orleans office and the lead federal coordinator for the Super Bowl, has been heading meetings with local police, city officials and leaders from federal law enforcement agencies – many of whom are from Louisiana and want to make sure the horrors of the New Year's truck attack in the city won't happen again.
'I did take (the attack) personally. And my people take it personally,' DeLaune told CNN. 'This whole security effort. Not a single person involved in the planning of the security effort for the Super Bowl was unaffected by this. They all take this very personally, and what I saw was a level of renewed commitment and renewed passion for the implementation of this plan.'
That security plan is already visible in the French Quarter ahead of Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. There are armored vehicles, scores of heavily armed police officers, street blockades, drones and more – transforming the party-friendly, pedestrian-heavy Bourbon Street to a scene akin to the presidential inauguration.
'To be honest with you, this is very similar to what we had in Washington, DC, just a matter of 10 days or two weeks ago,' said US Rep. Dale Strong, a Republican from Alabama who visited the French Quarter on Monday. He particularly noted the number of K9s in place – 'every dog you could imagine.'
The security plan comes just over a month after a terrorist attack in which a man drove a pickup truck at high speed on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more before he crashed into construction equipment and was fatally shot by police. The assailant also placed two improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, on the street, with one in a rolling cooler and one in a bucket cooler. They did not explode.
The attack raised questions as to why the city didn't have functional security bollards or use certain other vehicle barriers on one of the most walkable streets in the country.
In the wake of that attack, Super Bowl security officials went back and reviewed their plans, said Cathy Lanier, NFL chief security officer.
'Naturally there's a question of whether we have made adjustments in our security plan in light of the events of January 1, and the answer is an unequivocal, 'Yes,'' she said this week.
'We have reviewed and re-reviewed all the details of what happened on January 1. We have reviewed and re-reviewed each of our roles within the overarching security plan, and we have reassessed and stress-tested our timing, our communication protocols, our contingency measures and our emergency response plans multiple times over the past several weeks.'
Even before the January 1 attack, the Super Bowl – which President Donald Trump is expected to attend, according to a White House official – had one of the federal government's highest security assessments for special events, which unlocks significant federal resources and support. After the attack, federal officials not only helped tweak Super Bowl security plans, but also granted this special status and support – known as SEAR-1 – to New Orleans' Mardi Gras festivities from February 21 to March 4.
Security efforts are evident for anyone walking Bourbon Street this week. Notably, the city created a 'French Quarter Enhanced Security Zone' in which coolers and vehicles are prohibited, and any backpacks are subject to law enforcement search.
'In the days ahead there will be a significant increase in law enforcement presence in New Orleans, some of which will be visible and obvious,' DeLaune said on Monday. 'This includes special response teams, drone technology, tactical personal and equipment, intelligence analyses and covert assets.'
Here's a look at some of the increased security around the French Quarter, the nearby Caesars Superdome where the game will be, and surrounding areas.
There are 'no specific credible threats' around this weekend's Super Bowl, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Monday.
Still, with tens of thousands of football fans from Philadelphia, Kansas City and elsewhere headed to the Big Easy, a significant law enforcement presence will be in New Orleans just in case.
The biggest change in the safety plan since the New Year's attack is the visibility of the security, Lanier said last week.
'So you're talking about thousands of sworn law enforcement that will be very visible, some not as visible,' she said.
The security package for the Super Bowl includes as many as 600 uniformed law enforcement members on the ground, patrolling the city, with emphasis around the French Quarter, DeLaune said. That includes tactical teams with long guns that will also be on patrol, with the idea that their presence is a deterrent.
Checkpoints will be set up in the areas all around NFL-related events that take place in the week leading up to the game, DeLaune said.
Armored tactical vehicles known as BearCats will also be deployed throughout the area, with as many as 16 being used to block street access to vehicles, DeLaune said. And these will be in addition to strong temporary barriers that were missing during the January 1 attack but started blocking off streets more than a week ahead of the Super Bowl. Even blast shields will be featured at certain high-risk areas, DeLaune said.
Drones will be flying overhead, relaying images of crowds in real time to a cadre of law enforcement members who are analyzing the images, looking for any potential threats. And this is all in addition to investigators who have been combing through intelligence, looking for possible bad actors or even the most common fear among law enforcement, the lone wolf attacker.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration has generally prohibited drone flights for the public around the Superdome for much of the next week. 'The FBI will have a drone detection system in place, monitoring the skies over the Superdome,' said Stephen Cyrus, FBI special agent who was asked to assist in Super Bowl security, said in a news conference Monday.
Outside the French Quarter's streets, there will be a massive show of force, including helicopters in the air and tactical boats in the water.
What the French Quarter from a security perspective will look like once these major events are over remains to be seen.
New Orleans had been working since before the attack to install new street bollards intended to block vehicle access to Bourbon Street ahead of the Super Bowl. The removable bollards would help close the street to cars during pedestrian-only times but be stored away when cars are allowed, according to the city. The bollard work was expected to be completed by the end of last week, the city said.
However, those new barriers are designed to only withstand vehicle impacts of 10 mph, according to a Reuters report. Last month, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced a plan to ask a tactical expert to review the city's security plans 'to determine whether or not these bollards are sufficient.'
'If they're not, how, and what, and where do they need to be placed?' she said. 'This is a work in progress, and we're committed to doing everything necessary to ensure public safety measures.'
Other security barriers, such as those that can be temporarily placed on a sidewalk to prevent a vehicle from advancing there, have also been present along Bourbon Street since the New Year's attack.
'We harden the places we can as best we can,' DeLaune said.
Gun violence is a key concern as well, particularly at such a mass gathering.
At a Kansas City Super Bowl parade last year, a shootout stemming from a personal grievance left a woman dead, wounded about two dozen others and cast a pall on what had been a celebratory day.
In New Orleans, raucous parades and celebrations during the Mardi Gras period – which take place all around the city – have sometimes been the site of gun violence. A shooting along a parade route in 2023, for example, left one dead and four others injured, police said.
The Super Bowl does come amid a sharp decline in murders in the city since peaking in late 2022. From January to November 2024, New Orleans recorded 117 murders – a decline from the 188 in that same period a year before, according to the Real-Time Crime Index. Cities across the US have seen similar sharp drops in murders the last couple of years, since the end of Covid-related shutdowns, according to FBI data.
One new challenge for New Orleans law enforcement will be a law that began last summer allowing anyone over 18 to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. Still, guns are not allowed in bars, casinos, government buildings or the Superdome, and some businesses around the French Quarter have posted signs saying, 'No weapons allowed.'
Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, confirmed concealed guns will generally be allowed in the French Quarter's Enhanced Security Zone.
'Look, we went through great lengths … to balance the freedoms and constitutional rights that are enshrined in this state while making sure that we had enough security to protect our citizens,' he said Monday.
Even with the added security measures, the key is the average person walking by who might see a suspicious package or abandoned cooler, DeLaune said.
'The most important person in this whole event are the people here to enjoy it, that they would keep their eyes open,' DeLaune said.
CNN's Eric Levenson wrote and reported from New York, while CNN's Mark Morales, Ryan Young and Jason Morris reported from New Orleans.