MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
More details are emerging about a foiled terrorist attack in Vienna. The plan, according to authorities in Austria, was to attack a Taylor Swift concert using explosives and stabbing weapons. Well, Taylor Swift has canceled three concerts. Two suspects are now under arrest. Christopher Schuetze is a reporter with The New York Times who's been covering these developments from Germany. Hi, Christopher.
CHRISTOPHER SCHUETZE: Hello.
KELLY: So I gather most of what we do know comes from a news conference. This was earlier today. This was authorities in Austria. What details are they sharing about the plot?
SCHUETZE: What they've shared is the plan of the 19-year-old suspect to attack either the actual stadium in which Taylor Swift was playing or just outside, where there are a lot of fans who go there to hope to listen or see a glimpse or something.
KELLY: Sure.
SCHUETZE: And he's an Austrian citizen born in Austria, and he was sort of hoping to kill as many people as he could before killing himself. That was what he told investigators.
KELLY: What he told investigators. OK. So this is, I guess, the main suspect. Who's the other one?
SCHUETZE: The other one is an even younger one, a 17-year-old who was actually known to police - also an Austrian citizen, also born in Austria - who got a job with one of the service providers for the concert, so would have had access, presumably, to the concert venue while the concert was going on.
KELLY: I mean, this prompts, obviously, all kinds of questions about motive, and I gather that there are links emerging to the Islamic State. What do we know?
SCHUETZE: Authorities say that the 19-year-old suspect radicalized relatively recently online. We're not sure of any actual real-life connections to IS or IS networks, but he had a lot of propaganda material. I gather his phone was filled with all kinds of IS material, certain kind of instructions on how to build bombs and these kind of things. He had quit his job last month, and he told his coworkers when he left that he was planning big things.
KELLY: I mean, people listening may be reminded of other concerts and big events being disrupted in Europe. I'm thinking of the attack in Moscow back in March. That was well over a hundred - I believe more than 130 people killed. The Ariana Grande concert in England that was back in 2017. IS - Islamic State - was linked to both of those.
SCHUETZE: Yes, that's exactly right. And it seems to be the preferred method of attack because it doesn't, I guess, take very much to cause tremendous tragedy. And apparently, though the suspect admitted to all of it - he confessed - he said he didn't regret it. So just goes to show you, I think these big events with lots of people are vulnerable.
KELLY: Well, I'm sure people across Europe are reacting both with horror at what might have been and relief that it didn't happen. What do we know about why not, about how authorities were able to thwart this?
SCHUETZE: Yeah. So we've heard from, you know, our sources in the United States that the warning came from a U.S. intelligence agency to an Austrian intelligence agency. The Austrians confirm that it did come from outside, but they will not confirm that it was actually American. Problem is with the Austrian intelligence is that they're not allowed to read social messaging and messaging services. So they're sort of, you know, stuck trying to see these people as they radicalize.
KELLY: Got it. Just one more on what authorities may have been watching for and why. Are authorities there saying this has anything to do with events happening, say, in the Middle East? Were they watching more carefully for any kinds of threats given events that have followed after the attacks on Israel on October 7?
SCHUETZE: They did not say it had a direct bearing on it, but they have been generally more careful. And the Austrians have gone up - their terror alert system has gone up. They're on the fourth of five levels since the attacks because they're worried of attacks that have to do with the Middle East.
KELLY: Christopher Schuetze of The New York Times. Thank you very much.
SCHUETZE: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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