Terrorist plot at Taylor Swift concert aimed to kill thousands, CIA official says – National
Suspects in foiled attack plot Taylor Swift Concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA uncovered intelligence that disrupted planning and led to arrests, the agency’s deputy director said.
The CIA informed Austrian authorities of the plan, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group. The intelligence gathered and the arrests that followed ultimately led to the cancellation of three sold-out Eras concerts, much to the dismay of fans who had traveled around the world to see Swift in concert.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen discussed the failed plot at the annual National Security and Intelligence Summit this week in Maryland.
“They were planning to kill a significant number of people — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I’m sure, many Americans — and they were pretty far along in that plan,” Cohen said Wednesday. “The Austrians were able to make these arrests because the agency and our intelligence partners provided them with information about what this ISIS-linked group was planning to do.”
According to Austrian authorities, the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, was inspired by the Islamic State group. He is believed to have planned an attack outside the stadium, where more than 30,000 fans were expected, with knives or homemade explosives. Another 65,000 fans were probably present inside the stadium. Investigators discovered chemical substances and technical devices during a search of the suspect’s home.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner had earlier said that help from other intelligence agencies was needed because Austrian investigators, unlike some foreign services, cannot legally monitor text messages.
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The 19-year-old’s lawyer said the allegations were “extremely exaggerated” and claimed Austrian authorities were “exaggerating” this in order to gain new surveillance powers.
Swift broke her silence on the cancellations last week after her London concerts ended.
“The cancellation of our shows in Vienna was devastating,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram. “The reason for the cancellations has left me with a new sense of fear and an overwhelming sense of guilt, as so many people had planned to come to these shows.”
She thanked the authorities – “thanks to them we mourn concerts and not lives,” she wrote – and said she had waited until the end of the European leg of her Eras tour to prioritise safety.
“I want to be very clear: I will not speak about something in public if I think it might provoke those who would harm the fans who come to my concerts,” she wrote.
Concert promoter Barracuda Music said it had cancelled the three-night tour in Vienna that was due to start on August 8 because the arrests made in connection with the conspiracy were too close to the start of the show.
The main suspect and a 17-year-old were taken into custody on August 6, the day before the flights were announced to be cancelled. A third suspect, aged 18, was arrested on August 8. Their names have not been released in line with Austrian privacy regulations.
The London concerts, the next stop after Vienna, came in the wake of a stabbing attack at a Swift-themed dance class that left three little girls dead in the UK. In a statement released after the Southport attack, Swift said she was “completely shocked” and “at a complete loss as to how to convey my condolences to these families”. Media reported that Swift met some of the survivors backstage in London.
The Vienna plot has also been compared to a 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb exploded at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving the venue, making it the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent years.
Cohen on Wednesday praised the CIA’s work in preventing planned violence, saying that other counterterrorism “successes” in foiling plots generally go unnoticed.
“I can tell you that within my agency, and I’m sure others, there were people who thought it was a very good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the CIA headquarters. “And not just the Swifties on my team.”
The record-breaking tour is on hiatus until fall.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
