The US Defence Intelligence Agency raised its Israel spy threat designation to “critical,” the highest level, over alleged intelligence efforts targeting senior US officials, NBC News reported.
The assessment focused on concerns that Israel sought insight into internal Trump administration debates on Middle East conflicts, including Iran and Israeli operations in Lebanon, according to current and former US officials cited by NBC.
NBC reported that the Pentagon assessment included a seven-page document detailing incidents that raised concern. The report cited two current US officials and one former official.
The alert comes during tensions between President Donald Trump of the United States and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. The friction has centred on Iran policy and Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington denied the report. It said claims that Israel collects intelligence on US officials were “completely false.”
The Pentagon declined to comment on the matter. A White House official also rejected the story as false, according to the source content.
NBC’s report said the DIA assessment raised Israel’s counterintelligence threat level to “critical” in recent weeks. The designation reflected concerns about increasingly aggressive Israeli espionage targeting US officials.
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Emily Harding of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said Israel has a “hyper-aggressive intelligence service” and a strong interest in US policy decisions. The comment was included in the source content as context from an outside expert.
