Snipers, Secret Service, Gridlock Mean It’s NYC's Annual UN Week

In the basement of the United Nations headquarters, a wall of glowing screens monitored every hallway and garage. Phones rang in quick bursts. A mechanical voice broke through the noise: “Card rejected.” Operators barely looked up as they cleared alarms and logged movements, part of the machinery that will carry New York through the most complex security operation it faces each year.

The United Nations General Assembly, which opens Tuesday, brings more than 150 world leaders and their entourages into Midtown — a convergence that has been compared to hosting the Super Bowl every day for a week, across an entire neighborhood. The event has been designated a National Special Security Event, the same classification as a presidential inauguration that unleashes a whole-of-government mobilization.