The Plot To Attack Taylor Swift’s Vienna Shows Was Intended To Kill Thousands, A CIA Official Says

BERLIN — The suspects in the aborted conspiracy to assault Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month intended to murder “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that derailed the operation and led to arrests, according to the agency’s deputy director.

The CIA warned Austrian officials about the plot, which allegedly had links to the Islamic State group. The intelligence and subsequent arrests resulted in the cancellation of three sold-out Eras Tour events, which devastated fans who had traveled worldwide to watch Swift perform.

CIA Deputy Director David Cohen discussed the thwarted plot at this week’s annual Intelligence and National Security Summit in Maryland.

The Plot To Attack Taylor Swift’s Vienna Shows Was Intended To Kill Thousands, A CIA Official Says

“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen told ABC News on Wednesday. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”

Austrian officials stated that the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian man, was motivated by the Islamic State group. He allegedly intended to assault outside the stadium, where up to 30,000 spectators were expected to assemble, with knives or homemade explosives. Another 65,000 spectators were expected to be inside the venue. Investigators discovered chemicals and technical gear during a raid on the suspect’s residence.

Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, has stated that assistance from other intelligence agencies was required since, unlike certain foreign services, Austrian investigators cannot legally monitor text communications.

The 19-year-old’s lawyer has stated that the claims were “overacting at their best ” and that Austrian police were “presenting this exaggeratedly” to obtain greater monitoring capabilities.

Swift broke her silence on last week’s cancellations after her London gigs ended.

“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she stated in an Instagram statement. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

She thanked authorities—”Thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she said—and stated that she would wait to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour was completed to prioritise safety.

“Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she said.

Swift’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Barracuda Music, the concert organizer, said it canceled the three-night Vienna run, which was scheduled to begin August 8, because the arrests in connection with the conspiracy occurred too close to showtime.

The primary suspect and a 17-year-old were arrested on August 6, the day before the cancellations were announced. A third suspect, aged 18, was apprehended on August 8. Austrian privacy regulations do not reveal their names.

The gigs in London, the following destination after Vienna, followed a stabbing at a Swift-themed dance lesson that killed three young girls in the United Kingdom. Swift claimed in a statement following the Southport incident that she was “just completely in shock” and “at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.” According to news reports, Swift visited with some survivors backstage in London.

The Vienna plot was also compared to a suicide bomber’s 2017 attack on an Ariana Grande performance in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people. The bomb exploded at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of teenage admirers were leaving, making it the worst extremist act in the United Kingdom in recent years.

The Plot To Attack Taylor Swift’s Vienna Shows Was Intended To Kill Thousands, A CIA Official Says

Cohen applauded the CIA’s efforts to avert the planned violence on Wednesday, noting that other counterterrorism “successes” in foiling schemes are sometimes overlooked.

“I can tell you that within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he remarked, alluding to the CIA headquarters. “And not just the Swifties in my workforce.”

The record-breaking tour is on hiatus until the autumn.

SOURCE | AP