Taylor Swift’s identify was invoked earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday as Congress members grilled nationwide safety officers in regards to the latest use of a commercially accessible messaging app to debate delicate battle plans, whereas belittling European allies.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) introduced up final yr’s thwarted terror assault on Swift’s Eras Tour concert events in Vienna to underscore the significance of working intently with allies. Cooperation between the CIA and European intelligence businesses was key to stopping a tragedy, officers stated on the time.
Three concert events had been canceled, and three teenagers who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State had been arrested.
“That sharing of information saves lives, and it’s not hypothetical,” Warner stated. “We all remember, because it was declassified, last year when Austria worked with our community to make sure to expose a plot against Taylor Swift in Vienna that could have killed literally hundreds of individuals.”
Warner’s remarks got here a day after a bombshell report by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who detailed how he bought included in a gaggle chat on the text-messaging app Sign, during which a number of nationwide safety officers had not solely mentioned bombing Houthi targets in Yemen but in addition bellyached about what they noticed as European “freeloading,” in accordance with screenshots shared by TMZ.
“I just hate bailing Europe out again,” Vice President JD Vance wrote, to which Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth replied, “I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC.”
Warner total excoriated the officers on the textual content record, a few of whom had been on the listening to, in regards to the total lapse in safety and the hazards of alienating allies.
