Feature: UN General Assembly high-level week means high security

by William M. Reilly
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — The frequent whoop-whoop of police VIP-escort sirens is back. Some streets near the United Nations headquarters in New York are closed or have limited access, resulting in traffic gridlock on Manhattan’s East Side.
The first-blush abnormality is only typical for this time of year.
It is the UN General Assembly’s VIP-rich annual General Debate, which attracts scores of heads of state and government and hordes of officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD), regional police and members of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) stationed at roadblocks and checkpoints, alongside UN security officers or the guards escorting world leaders.
If that’s not enough a reminder of the confab, look out to the East River by the UN Secretariat’s side and see the NYPD or the U.S. Coast Guard armed, skiff-like, “response boat, small” as the military calls them, limiting commercial shipping and pleasure craft alike.
The two-day Summit of the Future on Sunday and Monday preceded the annual event, lending a sort of slightly lower-level preview to the traditional week.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he hopes the early meeting sets a course for international cooperation that can meet the expectations of people hoping for a future of peace, dignity, and prosperity.
Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for Guterres, told reporters that included among the 194 speakers scheduled at the General Debate are 76 heads of state, 4 vice presidents, 2 crown princes and 42 heads of government.
As part of the riverfront security effort around the United Nations, an apparent mother ship for smaller craft on patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Katherine Walker, is tied up to an idle floating construction crane, a temporary dock, alongside the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Drive running underneath part of the 7-plus hectare UN complex.
The tight security means the closing of the East 42nd Street exit of the FDR, running along the south end of the UN complex, and the main cafeteria means the reopening of the vast dining hall, long closed out of fear of a vehicle-borne terrorist attack.
The entire stretch of First Avenue, bordering the West Side of the UN complex, from 41 to 48 streets, is almost filled up by security-related vehicles with just enough room for arriving and departing motorcades.
In an unusual move, typically tight-lipped security officials have been showing off some of their operations.
There has been credible speculation the officials are reacting to what is regarded as the USSS failure in allowing gunmen to get too close in the last few months of presidential campaigning to former U.S. President Donald Trump, grazing his left ear and killing a bystander in one instance but catching a suspect in the other.
The speculation goes that showing off their security assets could deter any would-be terror attack on the VIPs or the campus.
The USSS is mandated by law to protect visiting dignitaries and their spouses. Special Agent Patrick Freaney said the number of “protectees” this year is around 200.
The lead UN security officer, Inspector Malinda McCormack, showed off the “brain center” of security operations deep beneath the UN complex where officers receive, analyze and disseminate information.
The center boasts a vast wall of video monitors, displaying scenes from more than 1,400 cameras on the campus.
UN security officers monitor motion and heat sensors in the complex. The host country monitors the air for chemicals.
Also monitoring the air, twin military helicopters noisily flew in formation, patrolling up and down the west side of the East River on Sunday. The NYPD deploys its own choppers for the event.
“In daily UNHQ operations we depend a lot on city, state and host country (the United States) cooperation,” McCormack said. “We daily screen up to 22,000 delegates, staff and non-UN entities, sometimes screen 22,000 per day. That is a high number.”
The NYPD showed off a joint operations center with representatives of other city, state and federal agencies.
However, NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon assured the media, “There are no specific or credible threats at this moment.”
He boasted aviation, K9, harbor and highway units were among the many NYPD units assigned to the event.
“Everyone here is working towards the same goal: The safety of U.N. General Assembly attendees and also the people in the neighborhood here,” Donlon told reporters outside the First Avenue UN Visitors Entrance last week. “That’s important. And also, the pedestrians that we see walking through the neighborhood, to make them feel safe.”
A New York City Fire Department (FDNY) spokesman said fireboats are “positioned away from the immediate area but can respond in a moment’s notice when needed.”
FDNY Emergency Medical Service ambulances are on standby at the complex, and various fire apparatuses are deployed on the periphery of the secure zone around the campus.
NYPD also has to keep an eye on demonstrations, dispatch contingents of police to maintain order, and keep opposing protest marches from clashing.
NYPD reported that on Friday, there were a dozen demonstrations related to the world body before noon.
Because of traffic gridlock, city officials recommended all, not just locals, take public transportation or just walk.
The city’s Department of Transportation reported that Manhattan traffic speeds had dropped because of gridlock to 6.5 km an hour or less during past General Debate weeks. ■