The CIA said it believes the suspects in the failed plan to attack Taylor Swift fans outside her concerts in Vienna earlier this month were looking to kill "tens of thousands."
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen addressed the plot, which was foiled after the agency intercepted the plan and issued arrests, at the Intelligence National Security Summit in Maryland this week.
“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said, according to The Associated Press.
Swift’s three concerts in the Austrian capital were canceled after the CIA notified Austrian officials about a terrorist plot targeting the concert venue.
The sold-out Eras Tour shows were dropped after three suspects, believed to have ties to the Islamic State group and al Qaeda, were put in custody.
“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,” Cohen said.
One of the suspects, a 19-year-old Austrian man who was inspired by ISIS, allegedly planned to target fans outside the stadium, where 30,000 were expected to gather. He was planning to use knives or homemade explosives in his attack, per the AP.
After searching his home, investigators found chemical substances and technical devices.
The singer broke her silence two weeks later, calling the show cancellations “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 said, thanking the authorities.
Cohen praised the CIA’s work in preventing the attack.
“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referencing the CIA headquarters in Virginia. “And not just the Swifties in my workforce.”
The Associated Press contributed.
