CIA Updates on Taylor Swift Eras Tour Terror Plot

The CIA has recently revealed significant details about a terror plot intended to target Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Vienna earlier this month. Originally scheduled for August 7, 8, and 9, the concerts at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion were canceled due to the planned attack.

According to CIA Deputy Director David S. Cohen, a large number of people were going to be targeted during the event. “They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I am sure, many Americans,” Cohen stated during the Intelligence and National Security Summit on August 29, as shown in C-SPAN footage reported by US Weekly. “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.”

Thanks to the early discovery of the plot by law enforcement, “hundreds of lives undoubtedly were saved,” Cohen emphasized. Three teenage suspects have been arrested in connection with the terror plot.

Swift addressed the terror plot and its implications on her staff and fans. “Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” she wrote in a detailed social media post. “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. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”

She continued, “I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.”

Swift also responded to critics who claimed she did not address the terror plot quickly enough online. “In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that,” the singer added.

The Eras Tour is set to continue in October as Swift takes her highly-anticipated performances back to the United States.

Source: David S. Cohen, C-SPAN, US Weekly