Pentagon raised – The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly raised the counterintelligence threat level for Israel to “critical,” driven by concerns that Israel is making an unusually intense effort to surveil top U.S. officials as Washington weighs decisions on the
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s counterintelligence message didn’t stop at “higher than usual.” In recent weeks, the Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly lifted its threat level for Israel from America’s top ally in the Middle East to the highest category, labeled “critical.”
The internal assessment, viewed by a current U.S. official, was issued amid tensions between Israel and the U.S. over the way forward in the war with Iran. Two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official said the DIA raised the alert after issuing a new counterintelligence threat assessment. a document that includes a seven-page write-up and a chart.
The heart of the Pentagon’s concern. as described by the officials. is what the assessment says Israel is trying to do with the information it could collect. The officials said the designation reflects worries that Israel is making a specific effort to surveil top U.S. officials to gain insight into President Donald Trump’s administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making around Middle East conflicts.
The assessment reportedly characterizes Israel’s ability to carry out human espionage and technical collection as being at a “critical level.” It also points to a series of specific incidents that heightened U.S. concern, according to one of the current U.S. officials. The Pentagon declined to comment.
Israel’s response was immediate and categorical. A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington. D.C. said in a statement that it is “completely false” that Israel spies on the U.S. “Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials,” the spokesperson said. “Israel intelligence collection efforts are aimed at its enemies, not its allies. Any claims to the contrary are either misinformed or politically motivated.”.
The White House also rejected the story. A White House official said in a statement, “This entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what’s going on.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees all U.S. intelligence agencies including the DIA, did not respond to a request for comment.
The timing of the threat escalation matters. The officials and experts said they do not know whether a specific incident triggered the DIA’s decision. But the heightened alert arrives as President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have clashed over the war with Iran and Israel’s military operations in Lebanon. including in a tense phone call this past week.
After that call, Trump acknowledged afterward to reporters that he called Netanyahu “crazy” during the conversation. The public exchange has fueled mounting questions about whether the two governments’ objectives in the Middle East are diverging.
Since a ceasefire went into place in early April. Trump has pursued a diplomatic deal with Iran to end the war Israel and the U.S. launched on Feb. 28. Israel has publicly expressed skepticism that Iran would abide by any negotiated deal. Netanyahu has pushed for a resumption of bombing raids against Iran. while disagreeing with Trump. who has pressed him to scale back attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. according to Western officials.
In that kind of environment, the officials said, Israel is keenly interested in whether Trump decides to resume major combat operations against Iran or to end the conflict.
The practical effect on daily operations. as described by the current and former officials. is more caution—not a break in cooperation. The most practical outcome for the Pentagon is that U.S. officials will use extra caution when traveling to Israel or visiting with Israeli officials. They said there did not appear to be any impact on the high-level intelligence-sharing that occurs on a daily basis between the two countries. particularly associated with the war in Iran.
One current U.S. official said, “The U.S. already takes extra precautions when visiting Israel,” adding, “They’re well-known to aggressively collect.”
Counterintelligence work in the U.S. is built around the expectation that espionage happens across borders—including among allies. The U.S. like other countries. maintains elaborate counterintelligence. often described as “spy catcher” efforts. to prevent and track espionage by foreign adversaries as well as by allies and partners. The aim is to safeguard state secrets and monitor attempts to recruit or coerce U.S. officials.
Under U.S. law, the FBI has the leading role in counter-intelligence efforts, but other government agencies and the military also participate.
For years, some diplomats and former national security officials have said Israel has a reputation for aggressive espionage, including against the U.S., its closest ally. Experts and current and former U.S. officials said U.S. intelligence agencies closely monitor that reputation.
Top U.S. officials, they said, often take extra care when traveling to Israel. That can include sometimes using burner phones and computers, along with extreme caution when speaking in hotel rooms during official trips.
Emily Harding. vice president of the Defense and Security Department and director of the intelligence. national security and technology program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. described Israel’s approach as unusually forceful. “Israel has ‘a hyper-aggressive intelligence service,’” Harding said. “They are exceedingly interested in what we are up to,” Harding said of the Israelis.
The memory of earlier rifts sits in the background. In the 1980s, spying by Israel caused a rupture with Washington, with U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard spending 30 years in prison after he was found to have sold suitcases of top-secret documents to Israel.
The U.S. has also been implicated in spying on allies, and the country’s own intelligence collection has produced blowback. In 2013, leaks from intelligence contractor Edward Snowden showed that the U.S. was eavesdropping on European leaders, including then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone, sparking outrage in Berlin.
The U.S. and Israel remain close allies, and their intelligence services have forged a close working relationship over decades. But concerns about possible Israeli espionage at such a sensitive moment—when the two governments are not in full agreement about the war with Iran—carry the risk of undermining trust between the two countries. two additional former U.S. officials said.
Pentagon DIA counterintelligence threat level Israel spying United States Trump Netanyahu war with Iran Lebanon intelligence sharing FBI counterintelligence Jonathan Pollard Edward Snowden Emily Harding
So Israel is spying now? wild.
I don’t get it, weren’t they “allies” like yesterday? If the Pentagon says critical then maybe this is why everyone’s acting weird about Iran. Still seems like fearmongering though.
“Critical” sounds like they’re trying to blame Israel for something that’ll end up being US policy anyway. Like, if they were already monitoring Israel (or whoever) then why is the chart even news. Sounds like somebody messed up intel.
Honestly this just confirms to me that nobody can be trusted, not even the “top ally.” I saw another post saying this means Israel has tech in our phones which is probably not true but you know how it goes. Also, Iran tension makes everything feel connected, like they’re all trading secrets while pretending it’s about strategy.