The CIA warned Austrian authorities about a planned terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said Wednesday.
“They planned to kill a huge number of people, tens of thousands at this concert including, I’m sure, many Americans,” Cohen said during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.
“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 added.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna on August 8, 9 and 10 were called off by organizers after the Austrian police received the warning about a terror plot planned by men inspired by Islamic State.
Following the warning, Austrian authorities arrested two men on August 7 — a 19-year-old in the town of Ternitz, south of Vienna, and a second person in Vienna itself — who were preparing to carry out a terror attack. A third suspect, an 18 year-old Iraqi citizen, was arrested on August 8.