Terrorists wanted to kill “tens of thousands” at Taylor Swift concert in Vienna

Despite the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts, the CIA managed to protect “tens of thousands” of lives, an intelligence official claimed.

During the annual intelligence summit outside Washington, Deputy CIA Director David S. Cohen revealed new details about the foiled terrorist attack that led to the cancellation of three concerts on the Eras tour in Vienna.

“They planned to kill a huge number of people, tens of thousands at that concert, I’m sure many Americans,” Cohen told reporters, according to The New York Times“The Austrians were able to make these arrests because the agency and our intelligence partners provided them with information about the plans of this ISIS-affiliated group.”

Earlier this month, Swift was scheduled to perform three nights at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium starting August 8, but the shows were canceled after two suspected terrorists were arrested in Austria and accused of planning an attack on the concerts. Promoter Barracuda Music announced the cancellation on August 7, writing that they “had no choice but to cancel the August 8, 9 and 10 performances” to ensure the safety of all attendees.

Cohen, who did not provide any further information about how the CIA learned of the planned attack, said he was certain that the goal of the attack was to attack the Eras Tour concert and harm concertgoers. He praised the CIA’s work and noted that “successes” in counterterrorism often go unnoticed.

“I can tell you that there were people in my agency and certainly in other agencies who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the CIA headquarters in Virginia. “And not just the Swifties on my staff.”

The CIA did not immediately respond to Weekly entertainmentPlease provide further comments.

Immediately after the canceled concerts, Swift made no comment on the foiled terrorist attack – but the organizer’s statement announcing the cancellations was re-shared via her Taylor Nation social media accounts.

Weeks later, after finishing the European leg of her world tour, Swift finally addressed the incident, writing that the reason for the cancellations “filled me with a new sense of anxiety and enormous guilt because so many people had planned to come to these shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were mourning concerts and not live performances.”

In the same post, Swift praised fans for their solidarity and responded to criticism from those who criticized her for not immediately speaking out about the terrorist attack.

“Let me be very clear: I will not speak publicly about something if I believe doing so could provoke those who wish to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she wrote. “In cases like this, ‘silence’ actually shows restraint and waits to speak out when the time is right. My priority was to safely finish our European tour and I am very relieved to say we succeeded in doing that.”