WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is increasingly concerned about Israel ramping up its spying on the U.S., recently raising the counterintelligence threat level from America’s top ally in the Middle East to the highest level, according to two U.S.officials and one former U.S.
official.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency in recent weeks issued the new counterintelligence threat assessment amid rising tensions between Israel and the U.S.over the way forward in the war with Iran, the officials said.
They said the DIA posted an internal message, viewed by one of the current officials, that raised the level for Israel to “critical.”The designation stems from concerns within the Pentagon that Israel is making a particular effort to surveil top U.S.officials to get information on the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making on the conflicts in the Middle East, the officials said.
The DIA assessment includes a seven-page document and features a chart, according to one of the current U.S.officials.
The document says the assessment of Israel is that its ability to conduct human espionage and technical collection is at a ”critical level,” according to the official.It also identifies a series of specific incidents that heightened U.S.concerns, the official said.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 Pentagon declined to comment.A White House official said in a statement, “This entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any ...