The CIA took credit for thwarting a planned terrorist attack on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour earlier this month.
During the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit on Wednesday, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said the agency initially warned Austrian authorities that a terrorist attack on Swift’s Vienna concerts was in the works.
“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,” he announced.
“They planned to kill a huge number of people, tens of thousands at this concert including, I’m sure, many Americans,” Cohen added.
Swift is on a worldwide tour that commenced in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023. The singer canceled planned concerts for Aug. 8-10 in Vienna after Austrian authorities warned her they had uncovered an ISIS terrorist plot targeting her shows.
“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” Swift said in an Aug. 21 Instagram post.
“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear,” she added, “but I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
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Swift, who is the winner of 14 Grammy Awards, is currently dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. More than 150,000 fans bought tickets to see her in Vienna.
Austrian authorities have arrested three suspects in connection to the plot. One of them, an 18-year-old Iraqi citizen, was apprehended on Aug. 8.