Among the suspects Plot to attack Taylor Swift’s Eras tour foiled Concerts in Vienna earlier this month were intended to kill “thousands” of fans of the artist, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen told a security conference in Maryland on Wednesday.
According to the Associated Press, Cohen said, “They were plotting to kill a large number of people — several thousand people at this concert, including, I’m sure, many Americans — and they were well on their way to it.” “The Austrians were able to make these arrests because our partners in the agency and the intelligence community gave them information about what this ISIS-linked group was planning to do.”
Swift’s Vienna concert, which began on August 8, was canceled by the event’s organizer, Barracuda Music, when it was informed of the foiled plot by Austrian authorities.
Roland Slugger/APA/AFP/Getty
This step is thousands left Swift fansMany of whom had traveled elsewhere in the country or abroad to Vienna specifically to see a show, were devastated.
“I will never see Taylor again at this resale value so I’m devastated,” a social media user named Caroline said shortly after the show’s cancellation. “This was supposed to be my ‘you beat cancer’ trip so it hurts to lose.”
Another social media user, Sarah, wrote that she was “waiting to see Taylor in my country when I was 9, I’m 25 now… It was all taken away by some men because of hate. No reason makes me so angry. That I cannot put into words.”
The main suspects in the alleged plot, including a 17-year-old, were taken into custody on August 6, the day before the cancellation was announced. Austrian officials said the primary suspect, whose name they did not release due to Austrian privacy laws, was inspired by ISIS. They said he had planned an attack with a knife or explosives outside the stadium.
A A third suspectwho was 18, was arrested on August 8.
At a security conference Wednesday, CIA Deputy Director Cohen praised the CIA’s work, saying “success” in countering terrorism is often unknown, according to the AP.
“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure there were people within others who thought it was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the location of the CIA headquarters in Virginia. “And Swift isn’t the only one in my workforce.”