CIA says suspects in foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift shows aimed to kill ‘tens of thousands’

Suspects in the foiled plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month planned to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA uncovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency’s deputy director said.

The CIA informed Austrian authorities of the plan, which reportedly included ties to the Islamic State.

The information and subsequent arrests ultimately led to the cancellation of three sold-out Eras Tour concerts, much to the disappointment of fans who had traveled around the world to see Swift in concert.

CIA Deputy Director David Cohen spoke about the failed plot at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit, held this week in Maryland.

“They were planning to kill a large number of people — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I’m sure many Americans — and they were quite advanced in doing so,” Cohen said Wednesday local time.

“The Austrians were able to make these arrests because the service and our partners within the intelligence community provided them with information about the plans of this ISIS-affiliated group.”

Austrian officials said the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian man, was inspired by the Islamic State.

He reportedly planned an attack outside the stadium, where more than 30,000 fans were expected to gather, using knives or homemade explosives. Another 65,000 fans were likely inside.

During a raid on the suspect’s home, detectives discovered chemicals and technical equipment.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said earlier that help from other intelligence services was needed because Austrian investigators, unlike some foreign services, are not legally allowed to listen in on text messages.

The 19-year-old’s lawyer said the allegations were “overacting” and claimed Austrian authorities were “exaggerating this” in order to gain greater powers to monitor.

Swift broke her silence on the cancellations last week after her London shows ended.

“Having our shows in Vienna cancelled was devastating,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of dread and a huge amount of guilt because so many people were planning on coming to those shows.”

She thanked authorities – “thanks to them we mourned concerts and not lives,” she wrote – and said she had waited to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour had ended to prioritize safety.

“Let me be very clear: I will not speak publicly about anything if I think it might provoke those who want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she wrote.

Concert promoter Barracuda Music has announced that the three-day concert in Vienna, which was scheduled to begin on August 8, has been canceled because the arrests in connection with the conspiracy took place too close to the start of the show.

The main suspect and a 17-year-old were arrested on August 6, the day before the cancellations were announced. A third suspect, 18, was arrested on August 8. Their names have not been released in accordance with Austrian privacy rules.

The shows in London, the next stop after Vienna, came shortly after a stabbing at a Swift dance class in the UK that left three little girls dead.

In a statement released after the attack in Southport, Swift said she was “in complete shock” and “at a loss as to how I could ever express my condolences to these families”.

News sources reported that Swift met with some survivors backstage in London.

The Vienna plot also drew comparisons to the 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people.

The bomb exploded at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, making it the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent years.

Cohen on Wednesday praised the CIA’s work in preventing the planned violence, saying other counterterrorism “successes” in foiling attacks have generally gone unnoticed.

“I can tell you that there were people in my agency, and I’m sure others, who thought this was a very good day for Langley,” he said, referring to CIA headquarters. “And not just the Swifties on my staff.”

The record-breaking tour is on hold until November.

AP