OCT 2025. Blues Vol 41 No.10

AROUND THE COUNTRYNEW

AROUND THE COUNTRYNEW YORK CITY, NY.Secret Service dismantles telecom threat around UN capable ofcrippling millions of cell service in NYC.By Mike BalsamoAssociated PressNEW YORK — While closeto 150 world leaders preparedto descend on Manhattan forthe U.N. General Assembly, theU.S. Secret Service was quietlydismantling a massive hiddentelecom network across the NewYork area — a system investigatorssay could have crippled celltowers, jammed 911 calls andflooded networks with chaos atthe very moment the city wasmost vulnerable.The cache, made up of morethan 300 SIM servers packedwith over 100,000 SIM cards andclustered within 35 miles of theUnited Nations, represents oneof the most sweeping communicationsthreats uncovered onU.S. soil. Investigators warn thesystem could have blacked outcellular service in a city thatrelies on it not only for daily lifebut for emergency response andcounter terrorism.Coming as foreign leadersfilled midtown hotels and motorcadesclogged Manhattan,officials say the take-downhighlights a new frontier ofrisk: plots aimed at the invisibleinfrastructure thatkeeps a modern cityconnected.The network wasuncovered as partof a broader SecretService investigationinto telecommunicationsthreats targetingsenior governmentofficials, according toinvestigators. Spreadacross multiple sites,the servers functionedlike banks ofmock cellphones,able to generatemass calls and texts,overwhelm local networks andmask encrypted communicationscriminals, officials said.“It can’t be understated whatthis system is capable of doing,”said Matt McCool, the specialagent in charge of the SecretService’s New York field office.“It can take down cell towers, sothen no longer can people communicate,right? .... You can’t textmessage, you can’t use your cellphone. And if you coupled thatwith some sort of other eventassociated with UNGA, you know,use your imagination there, itcould be catastrophic to thecity.”Officials said they haven’t uncovereda direct plot to disruptthe U.N. General Assembly andnote there are no known crediblethreats to New York City.Forensic analysis is still in itsearly stages, but agents believenation-state actors — perpetratorsfrom particular countries— used the system to sendencrypted messages to organizedcrime groups, cartels andterrorist organizations, McCoolsaid. Authorities have not discloseddetails on the specificgovernment or criminal groups42 The BLUES OCTOBER ‘25

U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool, center, looks at live video surveillancefeeds in the agency's New York Field Office, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Monday, Sept.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)tied to the network at this point.“We need to do forensics on100,000 cell phones, essentiallyall the phone calls, all the textmessages, anything to do withcommunications, see wherethose numbers end up,” McCoolsaid, noting that the process willtake time.When agents entered the sites,they found rows of servers andshelves stacked with SIM cards.More than 100,000 were alreadyactive, investigators said, butthere were also large numberswaiting to be deployed, evidencethat operators were preparing todouble or even triple the network’scapacity, McCool said. Hedescribed it as a well-funded,highly organized enterprise, onethat cost millions of dollars inhardware and SIM cards alone.The operation had the capabilityof sending up to 30 milliontext messages a minute, McCoolsaid.“The U.S. Secret Service’sprotective mission is all aboutprevention, and this investigationmakes it clear to potential badactors that imminent threats toour protectees will be immediatelyinvestigated, tracked downand dismantled,” the agency’sdirector, Sean Curran, said in astatement.Officials also warned of thehavoc the network could havecaused if left intact. McCoolcompared the potential impactto the cellular blackouts that followedthe Sept. 11 attacks and theBoston Marathon bombing, whennetworks collapsed under strain.In this case, he said, attackerswould have been able to forcethat kind of shutdown at a timeof their choosing.“Could there be others?” saidMcCool “It’d be unwise to thinkthat there’s not other networksout there being made in othercities in the United States.”CLICK HERE FOR YOURFREE SUBSCRIPTIONThe BLUES - OCTOBER ‘25 43