Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on Secret Service dismantling a potential telecommunications threat in New York

The US Secret Service has dismantled a massive network of electronic devices that could have been used to disable New York City’s cellphone network, officials say. 

Investigators found devices in vacant properties within 55km of the UN General Assembly meeting that’s taking place in Manhattan this week. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that allegedly foreign governments and criminals located in the US are using this network to run their organisations. 

He says they appear to have identified links to at least one foreign country and links to some known criminals, but have not said who.  

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right state side, Richard morning.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good.

Speaker 1 (00:02):
So a lot of headlines around the UN and trouble
with the server thing. What happened there.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
We don't have all the answers as yet, but along
with the gathering of the world leaders for the start
of the new UN session, they've discovered this spy cell.
It seems they just stumbled onto this thing, but the
scale of it is pretty numbing. The Secret Service found
a cache of electronic devices unlike anything they've ever seen before.
At one side, they discovered three hundred servers and more
than one hundred thousand SIM cards, all set up in

(00:29):
a way where there could be apparently thirty million text
messages sent per minute. Matt McCool and it's his name,
is the top agent at the Secret Service New York
Fueled office. He says foreign governments and criminals located in
the United States are using this network to run their organizations.
Which governments, well, they're not saying, but it appears they've

(00:50):
identified tires to at least one foreign country and links
to some known criminals. So more information to come. While
at the UN headquarters, as you've been hearing, Trump has
been met with Ukraine Zelensky. He says he supports the
view that NATO should shoot down any foreign I Russian
aircraft that violate their airspace. His speech at the General
Assembly saw Trump taking verbal shots at the UN over

(01:12):
climate change and immigration policies as well. We're facing, he says,
the death of Western Europe. With all of this age
to London's Mayor City Kahn, who was singled out by Trump,
caused the comments great appalling and bigoted. Meantime, Trump also
is facing pushback over his backing for RFK juniors claim
that autism is partly linked to pregnant women taking a

(01:33):
seed of innofant sold as tailanol here and panadole in
New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Says Trump, the FDA will be notifying physicians at the
use of said. Well, let's see how we say that
I said a menafin a seed of menifin.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Okay, yeah, that's convincing. The bulk of scientific research has
not proven such a link.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
And then we come to a Kimaloo's back.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
But weld silderback, well, we can expect a lot of
people will be tuning in if they have the chance to,
for the return of the late night comedy host. He
goes back on air tonight after his suspension in the
aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing. Not all will get
that opportunity. The next Broadcast Group announced today they're joining
the Sinclair Group and continuing to blackout Kimmel. So that's

(02:19):
what sixty six stations still banning him. Kimmel has invited
California's governor us him as his first guest tonight, so
it seems no back down there. Well, Kim's talk show
hosts mates Colbert and Stewart had these thoughts about their
friends come back once more.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
I am the only martyr and Late Nights.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
Wait unless CBS you want to announce anything that campaign
that you all launched pretending that you were going to
cancel Hulu while secretly racing through four seasons of only
murders in the building. I really was gra Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
American ABC, though, say they had thoughtful discussions quote unquote
on all of his as the network saw its valuation
dipped by four billion.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Exactly.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Mate, we'll see you in a couple of days. Appreciate
it very much. By the way, there's another congressional meeting
coming up. We've got a September thirty, which just let
me check my watch. It's about a week away another
closed down of the American economy. So Trump's going to
meet the Democrats. The other thing is Argentina watched this
because Bessince said the other day they're going to need
to do something with the pace. So they've already bought
the pace of the peso's tumbling, Malay's in real trouble.

(03:31):
Malayan Trump, get on will They've spent a billion dollars
supporting the currency. They're going to need to go in
probably for more of the paeso and some dollar denominated
government debts.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
So that's going to unfold in the next week or so.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks.

Speaker 5 (03:47):
It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.