What you should know
- The UN General Assembly begins in New York City.
- United Nations General Assembly Week is celebrated from September 23 to 27, with the participation of leaders from around the world.
- UN leaders meet annually to discuss important issues of global impact; In this installment it is expected that solutions will be sought to address the conflicts between Israel and Hams, but also the war between Russia and Ukraine.
NEW YORK – Amid tight security measures, leaders from around the world arrived in New York over the weekend to participate in the UN General Assembly.
Among the most important issues to be discussed are the wars between Israel and Hamas, but also the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The week of the United Nations General Assembly is held in New York from September 23 to 27 and one of the most important topics is security, becoming the next challenge for the Secret Service to keep world leaders safe.
Beneath the United Nations headquarters, a state-of-the-art security outpost called the Brain Center is bustling with activity ahead of this week’s high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly. The annual diplomatic pilgrimage brings more than 140 world leaders to New York City, including the leaders of Israel, the Palestinians and Ukraine.
Keeping them safe is the next big challenge for the United States Secret Service.
The agency, under the shadow of a July assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, is confident in its multi-agency, multi-level plan to protect the UN General Assembly, which is considered a Super Bowl-level National Security Special Event .
The plan, developed with the New York City police and the UN Security and Protection Service, among other agencies, includes not only patrols and protection detachments, but helicopters and patrol boats from the New York Police Department, a dozen UN security K-9 teams searching for explosives, road closures and traffic diversions. The Secret Service is bringing agents from posts around the world for the event. The Coast Guard is restricting access to the East River near the UN and the Federal Aviation Administration is closing airspace.
The operational tempo is incredibly high, said Patrick Freaney, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office.
The Associated Press got a rare look at security preparations for the U.N. General Assembly, known as UNGA, including the Brain Center and a joint operations center that allows the Secret Service, the New York police and other agencies communicate instantly to eliminate threats and logistical obstacles. They are also coordinating with foreign security services that protect each of the dignitaries.
Freaney said the National Special Security Event designation (for special events of national significance) paves the way for interagency planning, communication and cooperation. The Secret Service is in charge, but the robust counterterrorism and other operations of the New York Police Department and the 300-person UN Safety and Security Service play critical roles.
“We have more than 140 heads of state and government that we are moving around the city,” Freaney said during a tour of the joint operations center, which has space for 10 local and federal agencies, including the FBI and the Federal Drug Administration Agency. Emergencies and the departments of State and Defense.
One of the most important things is to get everyone here and then leave safely, Freaney said. Think about it from a logistical point of view: bringing 140 caravans to an area at the same time. This is an integral part of bringing those items safely.
The Secret Service, the New York Police Department and the State Department will also operate their own command centers: in Brooklyn, at One Police Plaza in Manhattan and in the ballroom of a nearby hotel. The New York Police Department, the largest police force in the country, has its Joint Operations Center equipped to provide officers with real-time feeds from security cameras, drones and helicopters, along with other critical information.
The UN Security and Safety Service, which is in charge of keeping the UN Headquarters campus secure, has its command post at the “Brain Center.”
At the end of a hallway in the basement of the U.N.’s main activity center, wall-to-wall monitors show live feeds from dozens of the 1,400 security cameras on the headquarters’ 18-acre (7.2 hectare) campus. They are all recorded and can be reviewed instantly. Automated voices alert about possible violations and emergencies. The computers generate data and photos in real time for each of the more than 22,000 people who pass through security checkpoints per day. Fire alarms connect directly to the city’s central dispatch system for immediate response.
The command post is manned 24 hours a day by UN security officers who work 12-hour shifts while world leaders are in town. The goal, according to Inspector Malinda McCormack, is to quickly receive, analyze and disseminate information.
Security plans for the United Nations General Assembly began to take shape a few months ago. The Secret Service and its partner agencies use previous meetings (this is the 79th edition) as a model, while making adjustments based on changes in world events, such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
“There is incredible trust,” said Michael Browne, head of the United Nations Security and Safety Service. There is an incredible sense of camaraderie and collaboration, which I believe is a key ingredient for success in a very complex and challenging operation like the United Nations General Assembly.
As of Friday, authorities said, there were no specific or credible threats to the event.
But Rebecca Weiner, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism at the New York Police Department, acknowledged that the chaos, diversity and unpredictable nature of the threat environment requires law enforcement to be nimble and anticipate all the ways someone could try to cause harm.
These are very different times, Weiner said.
World leaders are meeting at the United Nations General Assembly for the first time since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering an Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people. New York Police Department Chief of Patrol John Chell said Friday that the department has counted more than 4,000 war protests and more are expected next week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abs are expected to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to return. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend, but will send Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Although the fighting is on the other side of the ocean, authorities are thinking about what is happening abroad, in these home countries, and what we can anticipate here, Weiner said.
The objective of this assembly is to unite the countries, he added. The goal of our security posture is to ensure that we are doing the same.
