The Foiled Taylor Swift Eras Tour Austria Terror Attack Plot Was WAY Bigger Than Anyone Realized

The disturbing terror plot involving Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour concerts earlier this month in Vienna, Austria was thankfully foiled before anyone was hurt. But we are learning now that the plan put forth by the terrorists when plotting those attacks was actually meant to be WAY more large-scale than anyone had ever realized.

On Wednesday, the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a man named David S. Cohen, took part in the Intelligence Summit outside Washington, DC. During that annual interactive event, he spoke to the media about terror threats around the world. And the CIA chief dropped the dime on the MOST chilling aspect of the thwarted plot involving the pop star’s Vienna shows earlier this month.

Related: Scooter Braun Pokes The Bear With THIS Taylor Swift Party Comment!

Per the New York Times and others, Cohen explained that the terrorists arrested in Austria before they were able to carry out the attacks had been plotting to kill “tens of thousands of people” at the concerts. WTF!!! Cohen revealed:

“They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans.”

Whoa.

Obviously, there had been many tens of thousands of people planning to be at every single one of Taylor’s Vienna shows before they were canceled following the reveal of the attack threat. It would have been so horrible if the accused terrorists had succeeded in their goals. Even killing and injuring a fraction of that amount would have been a terrible tragedy.

Thankfully, the Austrian intelligence community was able to suss out the plot before it came to fruition. Citing the hard work of Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, as well as other Austrian officials, Cohen praised their work and also indicated that other intelligence agencies had picked up on the plotting beforehand:

“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.”

FWIW, per NBC News, Cohen did NOT reveal how intelligence agencies first learned of the alleged plot. But obviously, to Swifties, that part is not as important as the fact that it was stopped before it could occur. Seriously, a MAJOR tragedy was averted in Vienna. It sucks that Travis Kelce‘s girlfriend had to cancel her three shows in the city after the discovery, but the alternative would have been absolutely unfathomable. Truly chilling…

If you’re experiencing emotional distress related to incidents of mass violence, you can call or text the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or visit their website at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline for more resources.

[Image via Late Night With Seth Meyers/YouTube]