: Funeral ceremony is held for people, who lost their lives following the attacks launched by the US and Israel against Iran on February 28, at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran on March 9, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as “an operational trigger” for “sleeper assets” outside the country, according to a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies.
The alert, reviewed by ABC News, cites “preliminary signals analysis” of a transmission “likely of Iranian origin” that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.
The intercepted transmission was encoded and appeared to be destined for “clandestine recipients” who possess the encryption key, the kind of message intended to impart instructions to “covert operatives or sleeper assets” without the use of the internet or cellular networks.
It’s possible the transmissions could “be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert said.
“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness,” the alert said.
While the alert is careful to say there is “no operational threat tied to a specific location,” it does instruct law enforcement agencies to increase their monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity.
If the contents of the alert prove true, it would confirm the fears expressed by law enforcement officials after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran that sleeper cells deployed around the West could be used for retaliation.
NYPD officers help rescue an injured bald eagle on the Hudson River in New York, Feb. 17, 2026. (NYPD)
(NEW YORK) — While surveying ice during a training exercise on the Hudson River on Tuesday, a New York City police officer with the department’s Harbor Unit spotted something unusual.
“Last week, when it was cold, a lot of stuff was getting stuck in the ice, whether it was a float, a buoy, but it looked different,” Officer Michael Russo told reporters on Wednesday. “I could see this white head from a distance. So I said, let’s get a little closer. I said, it looks like an eagle. And turns out it was an American bald eagle.”
Russo, a 16-year veteran of the NYPD’s Harbor Unit, said officers have rescued distressed boaters, sick cruise ship passengers and animals such as dogs while patrolling the city’s waterways. Though a bald eagle was a first.
The injured bird was screeching, wet and bloody, and as the boat approached, it didn’t leave the ice it was floating on, officers said.
Officers said they consulted with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to see if they should retrieve the bird, and once given the go-ahead, looked up how to safely do that.
“As we got closer, we put a plan together,” Russo said. “We used a catch noose to kind of subdue its wings from flapping and its claws.”
Another officer, Sgt. Michael Amello, then put a cloth over the bird’s head, to help keep it calm, and got it on board the boat.
“Once we did that, it really didn’t give us a hard time,” Russo said. “I think it kind of knew that we were trying to help it.”
The officers were worried about the bird’s large talons throughout the rescue.
“They don’t really train you for, you know, handling a bald eagle, but we made it work,” Amello told reporters. “It was impressive and kind of scary at the same time, being that close to a bald eagle. The talons were pretty long. But it came on, didn’t put up much of a fight. It was compliant.”
The officers kept the bird on board until they were able to meet with personnel from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.
“It’s an impressive creature. Even in its state, we were kind of taken back by how big it is and just the way it is, and the beauty of it,” Det. Nicholas Martin with the NYPD Harbor Unit told reporters. “It was impressive, to say the least.”
The bald eagle has since been brought to a sanctuary in New Jersey and was reported to be in stable condition, officers said.
The Raptor Trust, a wild bird rehabilitation center in Millington, New Jersey, said Wednesday that the bird is in their care and is “currently in very serious condition.”
“We are doing our best to keep the bird stable, and should it improve, we will do further diagnostics, x-rays and blood work to help determine a course of action going forward,” the center said in a statement.
Travelers wait in line at a TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, US. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Saturday saw the highest call-out rate of TSA officers at airports since the partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown began, according to exclusive data from the Transportation Safety Administration first obtained by ABC News.
Over 3,250 officers called out Saturday, March 21, according to TSA data, accounting for 11.51% of the scheduled workforce.
Airport security lines are growing nationwide as TSA officers, who haven’t received a paycheck for over three weeks, call out of work. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform that he will deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports beginning Monday unless Democrats agree to a funding package to end the DHS shutdown.
Democrats are demanding reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection policies before they will vote to fund the DHS.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that ICE agents are trained and can assist with airport security. ICE has remained funded through appropriations from the Trump’s tax and spending bill passed last summer, while key DHS agencies like TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard are left unfunded.
Duffy said that ICE does have proper security training, but could also help by just managing lines. It is unclear how many ICE agents would be sent to airports or which airports they will be sent to.
“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as, you know, screening through the x-ray machine, not trained on that, we won’t do that,” White House Border Czar Tom Homan said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non significant role, such as guarding an exit, so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker.”
There was a nearly four-hour wait Sunday during the 11 a.m. hour to pass through TSA checkpoints at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to the TSA.
Saturday, the airports with the highest TSA personnel call-out rates were William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, with 47.4%; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, with 42.4%; Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, with 34.1%, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with 33.6%; and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, with 33.4%.
The president of the union that represents TSA workers issued a statement Sunday blasting what he called the Trump administration’s “threat” to send ICE to airports.
“ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley in the statement. “TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints – skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.”
“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” Kelley said. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
Other airports with call-out numbers over 20% Saturday included Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Chicago Midway International Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Long Beach Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport, and Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Airports with high wait times Saturday included Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, with wait times of roughly two-and-a-half hours in the standard TSA line; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, with wait times of over two hours; LaGuardia, with wait times of one hour and 40 minutes, and Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with wait times of an hour-and-a-half.
Right-wing influencer Jake Lang walks with a goat and supporters at a protest organized by the influencer on March 7, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Police arrested four people after a smoke-generating “suspicious device” was thrown during a protest at the New York City mayor’s residence Saturday.
It was not immediately known if Mayor Zohran Mamdani or his wife, Rama Duwaji, were inside Gracie Mansion at the time. Mamdani had no public events announced but was in the city, according to his public schedule released Friday night.
Police sources told ABC News that the anti-Muslim protest was organized by a “known agitator.”
The NYPD bomb squad was investigating if the device was a smoke bomb, after some smoke started coming out of the device before the crowd was moved back, sources said.
No injuries were reported during the incident.
The mayor’s office did not immediately return messages to ABC News for comment.
Two unidentified people arrested were accused of throwing a suspicious device, police sources said.
One person was arrested for disorderly conduct and another person was arrested for deploying pepper spray, according to sources.
