WNAM MONITORING: According to NBC News, three unnamed former U.S. officials claimed that the Pentagon is increasingly concerned about Israel’s increased espionage activities targeting the United States.
Officials, claiming that the ministry has therefore raised the counterintelligence threat level against Israel to the highest level, stated that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), affiliated with the US Department of Defense, has published a new counterintelligence threat assessment regarding the course of action to be taken in the context of tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran, and the escalating tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv.
Officials have alleged that the DIA released an internal message indicating that it has raised its threat assessment of Israel to the highest level, “critical.”
These assessments, allegedly stemming from concerns within the Pentagon, are reportedly based on findings that Israel is “attempting to monitor high-ranking US officials in order to obtain information about internal US discussions and decision-making processes regarding conflicts.”
Officials stated that the Israeli Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessed Israel’s human-based espionage and technical intelligence gathering capabilities as being at a “critical level,” and claimed that the same assessment cited “a number of incidents that have raised US concerns.”
Officials argue that Israel’s recent activities have gone beyond “routine espionage,” noting that Israel has been known for “conducting aggressive intelligence operations even against its closest ally, the United States.”
The White House, in a statement regarding the matter, said, “This report is entirely false.” The Pentagon declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington also issued a statement regarding the allegations, claiming that the accusations that Israel was spying on the United States were “completely unfounded.”
The activities are aimed at the Iran negotiations.
According to The New York Times (NYT), Israel’s espionage activity focuses on US officials involved in negotiations with Iran.
According to this, Israel is alleged to have increased its espionage efforts targeting US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Pentagon Undersecretary for Defense Policy Elbridge Colby, and his aide, Michael P. DiMino.
A former US official who has worked on Israeli issues pointed out that the tendency of some senior officials in the Trump administration to travel on private jets and conduct national security business using their personal phones made them particularly vulnerable to intelligence gathering.
