The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently revealed that it helped prevent a terror attack intended to kill “tens of thousands of people” earlier this month at a Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” concert in Vienna.
According to Time, CIA Deputy Director David S. Cohen revealed new details concerning the terror plot during this week’s National Security Summit in Maryland. Cohen explained that the CIA provided intelligence to Austrian authorities that was used to help prevent the terror attack.
“They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans,” Cohen stated. “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.”
According to The Daily Wire, the main suspect arrested in the terror plot was a 19-year-old Australian linked to ISIS. Law enforcement officials found homemade explosive devices, detonators, hydrogen peroxide, and bomb-making manuals in his home.
The Daily Wire reported that Omar Haijawi-Pirchne, an Austrian official, previously said that the suspect “wanted to carry out an attack in the area outside the stadium, killing as many people as possible using the knives or even using the explosive devices he had made.” Haijawi-Pirchne added that the 19-year-old suspect’s confession revealed that he had been “clearly radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels.”
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According to The Daily Wire, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old were also arrested by Austrian authorities in connection with the Vienna terror plot.
“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” Cohen said in reference to the CIA’s Virginia headquarters. “And not just the Swifties in my workforce.”
The Daily Wire noted that the information provided to Austrian officials by the CIA also led to three of Swift’s “Eras Tour” concerts being canceled in Austria due to security concerns.
Following the conclusion of the European portion of Swift’s “Eras Tour” in London, Swift shared a post on Instagram, saying, “Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. 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.”
Swift also thanked law enforcement authorities for taking steps to prevent the terror plot from being carried out. She added, “Thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
