How a sewing machine is helping to protect leaders at the UN

The United Nations is hosting what could be the largest gathering of world leaders in modern history, and is committing vast resources to security. That includes police barricades, road closures, canine units, as well as portable decontamination tents.

Oh, and a pair of sewing machines.

That may sound like a joke, but those humble machines, which belong to the UN's Upholstery Shop, may be one of the organization's most effective weapons against a potential attack.

That's because a key element of the security coverage involves ... window coverings.

"Any type of large window that high-level people will be (passing by), there'll be curtains on there," says Inspector Matthew Sullivan, who handles security operations for the entire seven-hectare UN compound in Midtown Manhattan.

"It cuts down line of sight."

High-profile crowd

Sullivan says the added security measures are a reflection of the high number of high-profile people his team is responsible for protecting.

This year will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN, and if the figures being bandied about are accurate, some 160 heads of state and government could be attending this weekend's Sustainable Development Summit and/or the week-long annual General Assembly debate, which kicks off Monday.

"We have a lot of people coming this year who've never come before," Sullivan says.

China's President Xi Jinping will make his debut at the UN this year.

So will Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel as President of Cuba in 2006.

Then there's Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was last at the UN 10 years ago for the 60th anniversary.

"And of course we started off with His Holiness, who is the highest threat I've ever seen coming in here," adds Sullivan, who has worked at the UN for 33 years.

"What you see out there on the street," is the result of all these global VIPs gathering in the same place, Sullivan says of the heightened security. "The toys, and the equipment, and the amount of manpower."

And the sewing machines.

They lie deep in the bowels of the United Nations headquarters, two floors below street level, in a cluttered room sandwiched between the plumbing and carpentry departments.

"Everything we fabricate by hand … none of it is handcrafted by somebody else," says Efren Vargas as he hunches over his sewing machine stitching a dark blue polyester-blend fabric into a curtain. "Everything is done by us, in-house." 

Vargas and his colleague, Luis Bajana, work in the UN's Upholstery Shop. They take care of all the furniture and the flags at the UN, but right now their main focus is taking care of the VIPs.

"Wherever they can be seen – it gets covered," says Vargas, referring to the 25-foot windows which can be found in many lower-level locations throughout UNHQ.

While they offer beautiful panoramic views of the East River and Manhattan, the windows become problematic when there are so many VIPs walking the hallways.

"It's actually a security measure to prevent a sniper from shooting into the building," explains Vargas, who has worked at the UN for 13 years.

His two-man shop also takes care of all the furniture at the residence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"From the curtains, to the chairs, to the pillows — and we try to do it with the best quality that we can find," says Vargas. "And with security in mind."

The 34-year-old explains that outsourcing upholstery work for the Secretary General's home is just too risky, due to the possibility of tampering.

"Somebody is liable to put something in a pillow, chair, any type of device,'' Vargas says without being specific. "You never know what could happen."