Secret Service’s next challenge: Keeping scores of world leaders safe at the UN General Assembly

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Below United Nations headquarters, a state-of-the-art security post dubbed the “Brain Center” hums with activity on the eve of next week’s high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. The annual diplomatic pilgrimage is bringing more than 140 world leaders to New York City, including the leaders of Israel, the Palestinians and Ukraine.

Keeping them safe is the U.S. Secret Service’s next big challenge.

The agency, under a cloud after a July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, is confident in its multi-layer, multi-agency plan to protect the U.N. General Assembly, which is deemed a Super Bowl-level National Special Security Event.

The plan — developed with New York City police and the U.N. Security and Safety Service, among other agencies — includes not just motorcades and protective details, but NYPD helicopters and patrol boats, a dozen U.N. security K-9 teams sweeping for explosives, road closures and traffic diversions. The Secret Service is bringing in agents from posts around the world for the event. The Coast Guard is restricting East River access near the U.N. and the Federal Aviation Administration is closing airspace.

With so many presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and others dignitaries in one city and under one roof at the same time, the U.N. General Assembly is actually bigger than the Super Bowl. It's the most complex event the Secret Service is involved in each year.

This year, it's coming during a especially busy stretch highlighted by the Republican and Democratic conventions and the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Speaking Monday after the Secret Service thwarted another apparent assassination attempt on Trump in Florida, Acting Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr. said employees were “redlining" like an engine pushed to its limit. But, he said, “they are rising to this moment” and meeting the challenges.

“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 inside security preparations for the U.N. General Assembly, known as UNGA, including the “Brain Center” and a joint operations center that lets the Secret Service, NYPD and other agencies communicate instantly to root out threats and logistical snags. They're also coordinating with the foreign security services that protect each of the dignitaries.

Freaney said the National Special Security Event designation — for special events of national significance — smooths the way for interagency planning, communication and cooperation. The Secret Service is in charge, but the NYPD’s robust counterterrorism and other operations, and the U.N.’s 300-person Security and Safety Service, play pivotal roles.

“We have over 140 heads of state, heads of government that we’re 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 Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State and Defense departments.

“One of the most important things is bringing all of them in here and then departing safely," Freaney said. "Think about that logistically — bringing 140 motorcades into one area all at the same time. This plays an integral part of bringing those details in safely.”

The Secret Service, NYPD and State Department will also be operating their own command centers — in Brooklyn, at One Police Plaza in Manhattan and at a nearby hotel ballroom. The NYPD, the nation’s largest police force, has its Joint Operations Center equipped to give officers real-time feeds from security, drone and helicopter-mounted cameras, along with other critical information.

The U.N. Security and Safety Service, which is in charge of keeping the U.N. headquarters campus secure, has its command post in the “Brain Center.”

Down a basement hall from the main hub of U.N. activity, wall-to-wall monitors show live feeds from dozens of the 1,400 security cameras on the 18-acre (7.2-hectare) headquarters campus. All are recorded and can be reviewed instantly. Automated voices alert potential breaches and emergencies. Computers generate real-time data and photos for each of upwards of 22,000 people who pass through security checkpoints per day. Fire alarms tie directly into the city’s central dispatch system for immediate response.

The command post is staffed around the clock by U.N. security officers who work in 12-hour shifts while world leaders are in town. The goal, Inspector Malinda McCormack said, is to receive, analyze and quickly disseminate information.

Security plans for UNGA started to take shape a few months ago. The Secret Service and its partner agencies use past gatherings — this is the 79th edition — as a blueprint, while making adjustments for changing world events such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

“There’s an incredible trust,” said Michael Browne, chief of the U.N. Security and Safety Service. “There’s incredible sense of collegiality and collaboration, which I think is a key ingredient for success in a very complex and challenging operation such as UNGA.”

As of Friday, authorities said, there were no specific or credible threats to the event.

But, Rebecca Weiner, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, acknowledged “the chaoticness, the diversity and the unpredictable nature of the threat environment” requires law enforcement to be nimble and anticipate all the many ways someone could seek to cause harm.

“These are very different times,” Weiner said.

World leaders are meeting at the UNGA for the first time since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered an Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people. NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said Friday that the department has tallied more than 4,000 protests over the war, with more anticipated next week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are both expected at UNGA. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to return. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending but is sending Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

While the fighting is an ocean away, authorities are “thinking about what’s happening overseas in these home countries and what we can anticipate here,” Weiner said.

“The whole purpose of this assembly is bringing countries together," she added. “The whole purpose of our security posture is making sure we’re doing the same.”

Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Freaney speaks at a news conference outside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A security officer speaks on the phone inside the UN Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

United Nations Department of Safety & Security, Chief Michael Browne, left, speaks to the media during a tour of the UN Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

United Nations Department of Safety & Security, Chief Michael Browne speaks to the media during a tour of the Joint Operations Centre inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A U.N. security officer inside the U.N. Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

United Nations Department of Safety & Security, Chief Michael Browne and Assistant Chief Drasko Galic speak to the media during a tour of the Joint Operations Centre inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Assistant Chief Drasko Galic speaks to the media during a tour of the Joint Operations Centre inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A U.N. security officer inside the U.N. Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Interim New York Police Commissioner Thomas G. Donlon speaks at a news conference outside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Security Inspector Malinda Mccormack speaks to the media during a tour of the UN Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A UN security officer inside the UN Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Security Inspector Malinda Mccormack speaks on the phone during a tour of the UN Security Operations Center inside the United Nations Headquarters, Friday Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban government said Thursday it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island's government with a suffocating oil blockade.

The announcement said the pardons were a “humanitarian gesture” in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention mounting pressures with the U.S.

The government said the prisoners affected are foreigners and Cubans, including women, the elderly and young people. It didn't say when they were being released or under what conditions, nor did it mention the crimes they were accused of committing.

Authorities also provided no details on whether any of those pardoned were protesters convicted and sentenced for terrorism, contempt or public disorder.

Cuba’s government denies holding political prisoners, but the activist group Prisoners Defended registered 1,214 people imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba as of February.

Cuban authorities said the decision “was based on a careful analysis of the characteristics of the crimes committed by those sanctioned, their good behavior in prison, having served a significant portion of their sentence, and their health status,” according to a statement published in state media.

The release comes as the Trump administration has placed extreme pressure on Cuba’s government, imposing an oil blockade for months that has fueled blackouts and left many civilians suffering.

Cuba periodically frees prisoners at key moments.

In January last year, Cuba’s government released 553 prisoners as part of talks with the Vatican, a day after the Biden administration announced its intent to lift the U.S. designation of the island nation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Last month, Cuba released 51 people from the island’s prisons in an unexpected move that officials said stems from a spirit of goodwill and close relations with the Vatican.

The government said Thursday's announcement was the fifth prisoner release since 2011, and that it has freed more than 11,000 people.

The announcement come just months after the U.S. deposed ex-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and pressured that nation's government to make radical changes, including releasing prisoners detained for political reasons and passing an amnesty law.

People walk a dog on a street in Havana, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People wait their turn to enter a bank in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People spend the night in the dark on the Malecon during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)