American Report: Israel Intensified Espionage Efforts on Trump Administration Officials

SadaNews - The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) has recently raised the level of counter-espionage threats attributed to Israel to the highest degree, according to a report by NBC News, amid growing concerns that "Israeli espionage activities on the United States have become more aggressive than usual," according to current and former U.S. officials.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued a new assessment of counter-espionage risks amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv concerning how to proceed with the war against Iran.

According to sources, the agency circulated an internal memorandum elevating the threat level associated with Israel to "critical," which is the highest classification approved, according to the report.

Officials explained that "this decision came as a result of concerns within the Pentagon that Israel is making special efforts to monitor senior U.S. officials and gather information about internal deliberations and decision-making processes within President Donald Trump's administration regarding conflicts in the Middle East."

The assessment includes a 7-page document containing a graph, indicating that Israel's ability to conduct human and technical espionage operations has reached a "critical level." It details a series of specific incidents that have increased American concerns, according to one official.

In contrast, a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington denied these allegations, asserting that claims of Israeli espionage on the United States are "entirely untrue."

He stated that Israel "does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone American government officials," adding that Israeli intelligence activities target its enemies, not its allies, and that any claims to the contrary are "either the result of misunderstanding or political motives."

For its part, the Pentagon declined to comment on the report, while a White House official stated that "the entire story is false and relies on a source with no knowledge of what is happening." The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for comment.

While mutual espionage between allies and adversaries is common, current and former officials emphasized that recent Israeli activity "far exceeds what is considered within the ordinary bounds of espionage between friendly nations," noting that they do not know if a specific incident prompted the DIA to elevate the threat level.

This development comes at a time when relations between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are increasingly strained due to the war with Iran and Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

The network reported that the two men engaged in a heated discussion during a phone call this week, while Trump later acknowledged that he called Netanyahu "crazy" during the conversation.

Since the ceasefire came into effect in early April, the Trump administration has been seeking a diplomatic agreement with Iran to end the war. In contrast, Israel has publicly expressed doubts about Iran's commitment to any potential agreement, while Netanyahu is pushing for a resumption of military strikes against Iran and opposes Trump's pressure to reduce attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to officials and experts, Israel is closely monitoring whether Trump decides to resume large-scale military operations against Iran or end the conflict.

Moreover, the report noted that the immediate practical outcome of this assessment has been for U.S. officials to take additional precautions when visiting Israel or meeting with Israeli officials, although it has not yet affected the level of intelligence sharing between the two countries, particularly concerning the war in Iran.

One U.S. official stated: "The United States is indeed taking additional precautions when visiting Israel, as it is known that they conduct intelligence gathering intensively."

The report added that Israel has had a reputation for years for engaging in active espionage activities even against the United States, despite being one of its closest allies, which has long raised concerns among national security and diplomatic officials in Washington.

It quoted Emily Harding, Deputy Director of the Defense and Security Program and Director of the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as saying that Israel has a "highly aggressive intelligence apparatus," adding: "They are very interested in knowing what we are doing."

The report recalled the case of Jonathan Pollard in the 1980s, an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Navy who was imprisoned for 30 years after being convicted of selling highly classified U.S. documents to Israel, a case that caused a crisis between Washington and Tel Aviv at the time.

In contrast, the report noted that the United States itself spies on its allies, citing the 2013 leaks by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, which revealed that Washington was tapping European leaders, including former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The report concluded by affirming that the United States and Israel remain close allies, and that the intelligence agencies of the two countries have a long-standing cooperative relationship, but concerns related to Israeli espionage at this sensitive stage, where the positions of the two governments do not fully align regarding the war with Iran, could undermine mutual trust between them, according to former U.S. officials.