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Suspects in Plot to attack Taylor Swift's tour foiled CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said Wednesday at a security conference in Maryland that the CIA was planning to kill “tens of thousands” of fans of the artist during his concerts in Vienna earlier this month.
“They were planning to kill a large number of people — tens of thousands of people at this party, including, I’m sure, many Americans — and they were very advanced in that,” Cohen said, according to the Associated Press. “The Austrians were able to make these arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them with information about what this ISIS-linked group was planning to do.”
Swift's Vienna concerts, which were scheduled to begin on August 8, were cancelled by the concert organizers, Barracuda Music, when they were informed of the failed plot by Austrian authorities.
Roland Schlager/APA/AFP/Getty
This move has left tens of thousands of Swift fansMany of them had travelled to Vienna from elsewhere in the country or from abroad specifically to see the show, and were devastated.
“I won’t be able to see Taylor again at these resale prices so I’m so sad,” one social media user named Caroline said shortly after the shows were canceled. “This was supposed to be my ‘I beat cancer’ journey so losing her hurts.”
Another social media user named Sarah wrote that she had been “waiting to see Taylor in my country since I was 9, now I’m 25… to have all of this taken away from me by some hate fueled men for no reason at all makes me so angry I can’t put it into words.”
The main suspect in the alleged plot, along with a 17-year-old boy, was arrested on Aug. 6, the day before the cancellations were announced. Austrian officials said the main suspect, who has not been named due to Austrian privacy laws, was inspired by the Islamic State group. They said he planned to carry out an attack outside the stadium with knives or explosives.
A The third suspectwho was 18 years old, was arrested on August 8.
At a security conference on Wednesday, CIA Deputy Director Cohen praised the agency's work, saying counterterrorism “successes” often go unacknowledged, according to the Associated Press.
“I can tell you that there are people in my agency, and I’m sure there are others, who think that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the location of the CIA’s headquarters in Virginia. “And not just those in my workforce.”
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