A few hours after an attack on Taylor Swift’s open-air concert was prevented, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) went on the offensive. In an interview with the ‘Krone’ he explains why he is ‘shocked’ by Justice Minister Alma Zadić.
“Crown”: Minister, the tip that a potential murderer is living undercover in Ternitz came from a foreign secret service. It is not the first time that we are dependent on foreign aid. How blind is Austrian state security?
Gerard Karner: Nowadays, international cooperation is an important condition in the field of state security, even though the most modern surveillance instruments are available. But it is true: we urgently need modern methods. That is only the surveillance of courier services. Time has moved on. Terrorists do not communicate with letters or old push-button telephones, but in secret chat rooms. I am shocked that Minister of Justice Alma Zadić and also FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl refuse to provide state security with modern methods. Zadić and Kickl form an anti-security alliance here.
The concern is that a wiretapping attack on Austrian citizens could be made possible.
We have no interest in mass surveillance; it wouldn’t even be affordable. We are not interested in holiday photos or a chat with the neighbour. We are interested in potential murderers. In the current case, the tip came from several international partners. The tip was addressed to a lone perpetrator. The newly established State Security DSN subsequently discovered even more people through investigations.
Video: Islamists had ‘big’ plans
The information was there because these partner intelligence services were allowed to monitor the courier services?
That was also an important source. The discussion in Austria is being conducted hypocritically. We are grateful that we receive information from foreign secret services by monitoring courier services, but our state security service DSN is not allowed to carry out this kind of surveillance itself.
When exactly did the Austrian State Security Service receive the tip?
After the destruction of the BVT by Herbert Kickl in 2018 and the new set-up by Karl Nehammer, the new State Security DSN is now well connected again. During the house search of the BVT, important data fell into the hands of strangers, which is why foreign secret services no longer trusted the BVT. Now that there is a basis of trust again, to maintain this, we keep quiet about the details.
The BVT house search would not only have cut off Austria from information from abroad, but would also have exposed many undercover investigators.
There is a lot of truth in that. But what was dramatic was that Austria was internationally isolated. I can only attribute Kickl’s statements, dripping with hatred, to his guilty conscience for destroying state security and endangering people’s safety.
In Paris, where many ISIS supporters live in the suburbs, they managed to hold the Olympics. Why did Austria fail to hold the Taylor Swift concerts?
I had a conversation with the organizer. It was a decision of the organizer, but he feels confirmed in his decision because we were able to prove that it was not a lone wolf perpetrator, but a group. I therefore fully understand the decision of the organizer.
Was misogyny a motive of the Islamists?
The investigation is still ongoing, but that is to be expected.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
