Pentagon Raised Threat of Israeli Spying on U.S. to Highest Level

The Pentagon has grown increasingly concerned about Israel's intelligence-gathering activities targeting the United States, recently elevating the counterintelligence threat level for its top Middle Eastern ally to the highest designation, according to two current U.S. officials and one former official.

In recent weeks, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued a new counterintelligence threat assessment amid escalating tensions between the two nations over the direction of the war with Iran, the officials said. According to one current official who viewed the internal message, the DIA raised the threat level for Israel to "critical."

The decision stems from concerns within the Pentagon that Israel has been making a particular effort to surveil top U.S. officials in order to obtain information on the Trump administration's internal deliberations and decision-making regarding Middle East conflicts, the officials added.

One of the current U.S. officials said the DIA assessment includes a seven-page document featuring a chart. The document concludes that Israel's capability to conduct both human espionage and technical collection has reached a "critical level." It also identifies a series of specific incidents that have heightened U.S. concerns, according to the official.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., denied the allegations, stating in a release that it is "completely false" that Israel spies on the United States. "Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone U.S. government officials," the spokesperson said. "Israel's intelligence collection efforts are aimed at its enemies, not its allies. Any claims to the contrary are either misinformed or politically motivated."

The Pentagon declined to comment. A White House official dismissed the report, saying 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.

While it is common for both allies and adversaries around the world to spy on one another, the current and former U.S. officials said Israel's recent efforts have gone well beyond what is typical or expected. The officials said they did not know whether a specific incident triggered the DIA's decision to raise the threat level.

The heightened alert comes 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 during a tense phone call this past week, NBC News reported. After the call, Trump acknowledged to reporters that he had called Netanyahu "crazy" during the conversation, as questions mount about whether the two countries' objectives in the Middle East are beginning to significantly diverge.

The Pentagon has elevated its counterintelligence threat level for Israel to "critical," the highest designation, due to growing concerns that Israel is aggressively spying on top U.S. officials to learn the Trump administration's internal deliberations on the Iran war, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The move comes as tensions rise between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu over whether to resume major combat operations against Iran or pursue a diplomatic deal. Israel denies spying on the U.S.

While daily intelligence-sharing between the two allies remains unaffected, U.S. officials are expected to take extra precautions when traveling to Israel. The episode risks undermining trust between the two countries at a sensitive moment.  Source: NBC News