Secret Service Disrupts Telecom Network Threatening New York City Communications

As world leaders converged on Manhattan for the U.N. General Assembly, federal agents quietly dismantled what they described as a massive telecommunications weapon hidden in the city’s core — a system capable of crippling emergency services and paralyzing cell networks.

The U.S. Secret Service announced Tuesday that the operation uncovered more than 300 servers and 100,000 SIM cards operating within a 35-mile radius of the United Nations. Investigators said the network could have overwhelmed 911 lines, jammed towers, and blasted out mass messages at industrial scale.

“It can’t be understated what this system is capable of doing,” Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, told The Associated Press. “It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right? … You can’t text message, you can’t use your cell phone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with UNGA, you know, use your imagination there, it could be catastrophic to the city.”

“We need to do forensics on 100,000 cell phones, essentially all the phone calls, all the text messages, anything to do with communications, see where those numbers end up,” McCool added.

The discovery grew out of a broader probe into telecom threats aimed at senior U.S. officials. Agents said the setup, which cost millions to build, could churn out 30 million messages a minute while cloaking encrypted communications. That capability, they noted, raised the possibility of links to criminal networks or foreign actors.

Secret Service Director Sean Curran cast the takedown as a warning shot. “The U.S. Secret Service’s protective mission is all about prevention, and this investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled,” said in a statement.

Forensics experts are now combing through the mountain of seized SIM cards to reconstruct call and message traffic. The Secret Service claimed that investigators must analyze over 100,000 SIM cards, examining all associated calls, texts, and communication data to trace their connections.

The Secret Service dismantled a network of more than 300 SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards in the New York-area that were capable of crippling telecom systems and carrying out anonymous telephonic attacks, disrupting the threat before world leaders arrived for the UN General… pic.twitter.com/sZKUeGqvGY

— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) September 23, 2025

So far, no group or individual has been publicly identified, and no credible plot tied directly to the U.N. meetings has surfaced. Still, McCool cautioned that New York may not be unique. “Could there be others? It’d be unwise to think that there’s not other networks out there being made in other cities in the United States,” he said.

The revelation underscores how vulnerable urban infrastructure has become to hidden digital sabotage. Federal officials are now urging local law enforcement across the country to be alert for similar systems as the investigation widens.

The tampering was discovered right before President Trump delivered a “major speech” on Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly as world leaders convene in New York for the body’s 80th session, according to the White House.

President Donald Trump used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to lash out at the global body, accusing it of failing to live up to its mission and leaving the United States to shoulder responsibilities it should be handling, reported Politico.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump asked, declaring that the institution was “not even coming close” to its potential. He claimed credit for ending “seven wars” without so much as a phone call from UN officials and dismissed the organization as outdated and counterproductive.

💥💥💥FULL SPEECH💥💥💥

MUST WATCH! An absolutely EPIC SPEECH by President Trump at the United Nations General Assembly: In it, he excoriates the UN, Europe, Climate Change and MUCH MORE!

SPECTACULAR, Sir! 👏🏻👏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/upXnBdGw2g

— MAGA Kitty (@SaveUSAKitty) September 23, 2025

In a freewheeling speech that veered from complaints about a broken escalator to boasts about his foreign policy record, Trump also mixed appeals for peace with threats. He warned drug cartels he would “blow you out of existence,” derided European leaders for their immigration policies—“your countries are going to hell,” he said—and belittled climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

The president pressed allies to abandon Russian oil, touted his pressure campaign on NATO defense spending, and praised El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele for locking up deportees. He rejected Palestinian statehood as “too great a reward for Hamas” and said nations must “reject the failed approaches of the past.”

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