The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has warned that terrorists were planning to kill "as many people as possible" using homemade explosives and knives at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen has confirmed that the intelligence agency warned Austrian authorities about the possible attack, which triggered the cancellation of Swift's European leg of the Eras Tour in Vienna, which was supposed to begin on Aug. 8.
"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 at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Bethesda, Maryland, on Aug. 28.
He noted that Austrian security forces were able to arrest the suspects because the CIA and "our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do."
"As a result, hundreds of lives, undoubtedly, were saved," he claimed.
The suspects, aged 17, 18 and 19, have been arrested in connection with the plot. Intelligence officials said they were inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda and that bomb-making materials were found in the 19-year-old Austrian citizen's home.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria's Directorate General for Public Security, previously said in a statement that the 19-year-old suspect confessed to the plot during interrogation. Due to Austrian privacy laws, the names of the suspects have not been released to the public.
The attack was supposedly set to take place outside the stadium where as many as 65,000 people were expected to attend the show.
In an Instagram post after the canceled Eras Tour shows, Swift said it was "devastating" having to call off the Vienna tour dates. (Related: Taylor Swift accused of promoting WITCHCRAFT and SATANISM on "The Eras Tour.")
"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 posted. "But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives."
The European leg of the concerts wrapped up in London in August amid increased security. Fans were banned from gathering outside, a practice they called "Taylor-gating" or "Tay-gating."
Austria wants to monitor and censor social media and mobile apps
According to Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Austria is grateful to the U.S. spies who uncovered an ISIS plot against Swift's concert in Vienna.
Nehammer, who is campaigning for reelection on Sept. 29, is now demanding that Austrian agencies be allowed to spy on messenger apps after they relied on the U.S. to alert them to the danger. He also said in a TV interview that the situation in the country remains tense.
Allies openly doubted whether they could trust Austria with sensitive information after police raids on the now-disbanded Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
"I am very grateful to the international agencies for cooperating with us on an equal footing again. That was not a certainty," Nehammer told Austrian media outlet PULS 24.
Monitoring of messenger apps by Austria's agencies is a must, Nehammer said. He noted that it is possible for social media companies, such as Facebook and TikTok, to remove Islamist content from their sites.
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Watch the video below that talks about the CIA creating ISIS threats to blow up Taylor Swift's concert.
This video is from the Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.
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