Template:8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001: Preparations Underway in New York

8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001: Preparations Underway in New York for UN General Assembly
Preparations are underway in New York City for the upcoming meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The Secret Service has an additional 100 employees in the city for this event. Four communications soldiers from the 1108th Signal Brigade are also temporarily assigned to New York to support the Secret Service.

Presumably, the specific event being prepared for is the General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders, scheduled for September 24 to October 5, which President Bush is due to address on September 24.

For example, one report says Secret Service Officer Craig Miller is in New York today “to do advance security work for President Bush’s then upcoming visit to the United Nations General Assembly.” The General Assembly is designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE).

Since 1998, the National Security Council has been authorized to designate important upcoming events as NSSEs, which puts the Secret Service in charge of the planning and implementation of security.

It is unclear whether the UN General Assembly received NSSE status prior to 9/11, or is later designated as an NSSE due to the attacks. However, the UN’s previous ‘’ in New York in September 2000 was an NSSE.

And in 2003, Secret Service Director Ralph Basham states: “Each year, the UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] is a manpower and resource intensive effort for the Secret Service.” So it seems likely that it was designated as an NSSE before 9/11. There are questions about how preparations for an NSSE could have affected security in New York. The Secret Service says it conducts a “tremendous amount of advance planning and coordination” for NSSEs, involving a “variety of training initiatives,” which include, “simulated attacks and medical emergencies.”

Furthermore, former FBI Director Louis Freeh will later tell the 9/11 Commission that in 2000 and 2001, the use of airplanes by terrorists in suicide missions “was part of the planning” for NSSEs. Whether any such preparations are taking place in New York on or around 9/11 is unknown. The Secret Service is also mandated to create capabilities for achieving “airspace security” over NSSEs, which include “air interdiction teams” used to detect and identify aircraft that violate the restricted airspace above the event. Again, whether such capabilities are already available in New York in advance of the UN General Assembly is unknown. Even though only four or five events per year are designated as NSSEs, preparations are also underway in the Washington, DC area for a separate NSSE. The UN General Assembly’s gathering of world leaders will be cancelled due to the 9/11 attacks but is rescheduled for November.