Stephen Vitale, serving as the CEO, alongside Rocco Vitale, the President of Pyrotecnico, offers insights into the meticulous groundwork involved in crafting their monumental July 4th fireworks display in Washington, D.C. The event, which has been in the making for six months, involves a team of 75 experts managing the intricate logistics required to launch 850,000 fireworks shells. This colossal spectacle is part of the America250 celebration, marked across various land and barge locations.
As America prepares to commemorate its 250th anniversary this weekend, security agencies are on high alert for potential threats targeting Independence Day festivities and parade attendees.
This vigilance extends to the Salute to America 250 Celebration and Fireworks in Washington, D.C., touted by the White House as “one of the most magnificent expressions of patriotism ever witnessed in the world.”
An anticipated audience of over a million is expected to converge on the National Mall, eager to hear President Donald Trump’s address and witness “the largest pyrotechnic display in history,” as per the White House.
Individuals gather to listen as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a rally marking the commencement of the Great American State Fair on June 24, 2026, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Jason Pack, a retired supervisory special agent with the FBI, told News Media agencies have likely been preparing and coordinating for the event for weeks, if not months.
Preparation work for the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair continues on the National Mall on June 22, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The fair will fill the mall with 150 exhibits from all 56 states and territories from June 25 to July 10. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“It’s a whole of government approach, not just one agency,” Pack said. “That’s really important because that’s how in the past [threats] were stovepiped and could have gotten missed.”
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He said he has not heard of any specific threats, but anything is possible.
“Given it’s the Fourth of July, which is a holiday that’s so special to the country, there’s no doubt that someone would want to,” Pack said.
While there will be heightened security in our nation’s capital with millions of spectators expected to descend on D.C., experts say it’s important to understand that smaller-scale events will also likely have amplified security.
A couple takes a photo of the center traffic line painted in red, white and blue before a Fourth of July parade begins Saturday, July 4, 2020, in Bristol, R.I. (AP Photo / David Goldman)
Recall in 2022, a mass shooter opened fire on July Fourth parade-goers in Highland Park, Illinois.
Robert Crimo III was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after court documents say he climbed on a roof above the parade and opened fire on spectators with a an assault rifle; seven people were killed and 48 others injured .
People lay flowers and cards near a spot where a mass shooting took place during the 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Fox News Contributor and former NYPD Legal Bureau Commanding Officer Paul Mauro told News Media that it’s imperative for local law enforcement to have safeguards in place to prevent tragedies.
Robert Crimo III appears before Judge Victoria A. Rossetti at the Lake County Courthouse on June 26, 2024, in Waukegan, Ill. (Nam Y. Huh-Pool/Getty Images)
Mauro urged small cities and governments to communicate with larger agencies.
He said, “Don’t be afraid to ask the FBI office. Don’t be afraid to talk to Homeland Security. They’re there for that. Everybody is hyper aware of the fact that this is an iconic anniversary.”
People lay flowers and cards near a spot where a mass shooting took place during the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mauro also said mass shootings are not the only risk to public safety.
In 2021, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Darrell Edward Brooks Jr. drove an SUV into crowds of people at the Waukesha Christmas parade. Six people were killed and more than 60 others were injured.
Darrell Brooks, who was convicted of killing six people when he rammed an SUV into people at a Waukesha Christmas parade, is serving multiple life sentences. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Brooks Jr. is currently serving six consecutive life sentences. Mauro said that small towns, like Waukesha, and their police departments need to accept that terrorist attacks or similar incidents could happen in their communities.
He said the first step in preparing for such threats is acknowledging the possibility, rather than assuming “it could never happen here.”
This Nov. 3, 2021 photo provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office shows Darrell Brooks. (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office via AP | CITY OF WAUKESHA/Facebook/via REUTERS)
Once agencies recognize the risk, they can begin implementing appropriate security and preparedness measures.
Another example of attack by vehicle-ramming during a community celebration happened in 2017.
Sayfullo Saipov from Uzbekistan killed eight people and injured nearly 20 more when he rammed a truck into crowds of people at a Halloween parade in New York City. His devotion to ISIS was his alleged motive, the DOJ said; he’s currently serving eight life sentences in federal prison.
A law enforcement officer walks by a crime scene Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, after a driver mowed down people on a riverfront bike path near the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Inset: St. Charles County, Mo., Department of Corrections)
While the truck ramming resulted in those eight lives lost, Mauro said the attack could have resulted in significantly more deaths.
He said that while serving in the NYPD Intelligence Bureau’s counterterrorism unit, officials anticipated the possible vehicle-ramming attack. As a result, they hardened vulnerable parade routes by placing sanitation trucks and other heavy vehicles as barriers.
Sayfullo Saipov used a rented Home Depot truck to carry out his attack on Lower Manhattan in 2017. (News Media)
Saipov, who had rented a truck and planned to target a Manhattan parade, found the route blocked by these barriers and abandoned that plan. Instead, Mauro said, he drove along the West Side Highway in New York City, where he carried out a vehicle attack before being stopped after crashing into a school bus.
Mauro argued that because the attacker had no prior criminal or intelligence indicators, he was difficult to detect in advance.
Sayfullo Saipov, the Uzbek man charged with using a truck to kill eight people on a Manhattan bike path on Halloween in 2017, listens to testimony from New York City Police (NYPD) officer Ryan Nash at his federal trial in New York City, U.S., Jan. 9, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.
He concluded that acknowledging the threat and implementing physical security measures prevented a much deadlier attack at the parade.
Amy Biden, of New York, hugs her dog Smokey after placing flowers she brought to a makeshift memorial that honors victims of an attack who were struck and killed by a rental truck driven by indicted suspect Sayfullo Saipov, at Chambers and West Streets in New York, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Looking ahead, one way that federal agencies and local police work together to thwart premeditated or organized attacks comes from the help of fusion centers, Pack said.
“Fusion centers” are located in various cities and larger urban areas “for the receipt, analysis, gathering and sharing of threat-related information between State, Local, Tribal and Territorial (SLTT), federal and private sector partners,” according to Homeland Security.
If you see or hear about something suspicious ahead of the holiday, you can tip the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324)
For an immediate threat, call 911.
