During the UN General Assembly (UNGA), a senior female official from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was attacked inside the tightly guarded UN headquarters by someone the White House called a “deranged leftist” and “lunatic.” The hack happened because the attacker “somehow got past several layers of UN security.”
The official said that they were followed into a women’s bathroom, filmed, and treated with “hyper-aggressive” behavior and statements that were disparaging to Palestinians (such being branded a “fascist” and a “Nazi”). During the roughly ten-minute encounter, the attacker tried to break inside the official’s closed cubicle and held a camera over the door. The NYPD detained the attacker and charged them with assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
However, they were released from jail shortly after and told to go to court on November 13. American officials have called the event a “shocking breach of security” and a “disturbing and dangerous set of failures by the UN.” This has led the U.S. Secret Service to look into how the unauthorized person got in, while the UN has promised to review its security procedures and fully cooperate.