The U.S. Secret Service revealed it disrupted a large-scale telecommunications threat in New York City ahead of the U.N. General Assembly. The agency dismantled a network of electronic devices across the New York tristate area, which were used to carry out multiple telecommunications-related threats targeting senior U.S. government officials. This posed an imminent risk to protective operations, according to a statement from the Secret Service.

The investigation uncovered over 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards across multiple locations. U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran emphasized the severe potential for disruption to national telecommunications infrastructure. “This investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled,” he stated.

The devices were concentrated within 35 miles of the U.N. General Assembly, prompting swift action to neutralize the network. The agency’s Advanced Threat Interdiction Unit, a newly established unit focused on countering significant threats, is leading the ongoing investigation. Support was provided by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the NYPD, among other partners.

Officials described the scheme as “well-organized and well-funded,” involving nation-state threat actors and individuals known to federal law enforcement. The equipment could have sent messages to the entire U.S. population within 12 minutes, disabled mobile phone towers, and launched distributed denial of service attacks that might have disrupted emergency communications.

The devices were seized from SIM farms at abandoned apartment buildings across five sites, though specific locations were not disclosed. The operation followed an investigation into anonymous “telephonic threats” directed at three U.S. government officials earlier this year, including one from the Secret Service and two from the White House.