Secret Service Disrupts Telecommunications Threat Near U.N. General Assembly

The U.S. Secret Service successfully disrupted a telecommunications threat near the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Special Agent Matt McCool of the Secret Service’s New York field office said Tuesday in an update.

McCool made the announcement on Tuesday, pointing to a matter of public interest and a “concentration of material recovered during a recent Secret Service protective intelligence investigation following multiple telecommunications related imminent threats directed towards senior U.S. government officials.”

He explained that in the spring, Secret Service “began a protective intelligence investigation to determine the extent and impact these threats could have on protective operations,” describing it as a “difficult and complex effort to identify the source of these fraudulent calls and the impact on the Secret Service protected mission.”

Federal partners assisted in the operation, including Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice, as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and state and local law enforcement. As a result, they discovered “tens of thousands” of “co-located and network cellular devices capable of carrying out nefarious telecommunications attacks.”

“These devices allowed anonymous, encrypted communications between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises, enabling criminal organizations to operate undetected,” he said.

What is more, he said this network had the potential to “disable cell phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City.” Further, they discovered these devices close to the location of the U.N. General Assembly, where the global meeting with world leaders is currently kicking off.

“Given the timing, location and proximity and potential for significant disruptions to the New York telecom system, we move quickly to disrupt this network. To be clear, these recovered devices no longer pose a threat to the New York tri-state area,” he said, noting that they are still working to discover the true intent of this network — whether it was to disrupt the U.N. General Assembly meeting or something else.

“Forensic examinations of the equivalent of 100,000 cell phones worth of data is underway. Early analysis indicates cellular communications between foreign actors and individuals that are known to federal law enforcement,” McCool added, clarifying that this investigation is still open and active.

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“This announcement is designed to safeguard critical infrastructure and responsibly provide the public what we can at this time,” he said, vowing that Secret Service will identify those responsible for this threat.

This update comes as the United Nations officially opens the 80th session of its annual General Assembly on Tuesday morning, giving world leaders a platform to speak out on issues they believe are important.