Move over, stories about Taylor Swift as a witch or a member of the illuminati – last week’s Intel Summit hosted by INSA and AFCEA gave us the T-Swift crossover we never saw coming, when Deputy Director of the CIA David S. Cohen confirmed the agency has provided intelligence about a planned attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Austria.
The question come in questions about how the U.S. was positioned to gather intelligence for terrorist organizations tied to the Islamic State, and the Taylor Swift planned attack was an example of the agency’s continued intelligence gathering efforts which are successfully thwarting planned attacks not just in the U.S. but through intelligence sharing with foreign governments.
The CIA has capabilities other countries don’t, and it has a long track record of reaching out to provide intelligence information that can be used to keep foreign countries and U.S. citizens abroad alike safe. Those reports aren’t always able to prevent terrorist attacks, but this was one example of where the CIA was able to provide information and the foreign country was able to act and take action, arresting the suspects, along with Taylor Swift’s decision to cancel those tour dates.
