PENTAGON REPORTED TO ELEVATE ISRAEL SPYING THREAT LEVEL TO ‘CRITICAL’

Sat 06 June 2026:

The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to “critical” amid escalating tensions between Washington and Israel over the conflict with Iran, US media reports.

Citing two US officials and one former official, the report states that the DIA posted an internal message detailing the change, which was viewed by one of the current officials.

The designation stems from growing concerns within the Pentagon that Israel was making a targeted effort to surveil top US officials.

According to the sources, this surveillance was aimed at gathering intelligence on the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making regarding Middle East conflicts.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

The DIA assessment included a seven-page document and featured a specific chart, one of the current US officials said.

The document noted that Israel’s capabilities to conduct both human espionage and technical information collection had reached a “critical level”. The official added that the document also identified a series of specific incidents that heightened US concerns.

“The US already takes extra precautions when visiting Israel,” one of the current US officials was quoted as saying.

“They’re well-known to aggressively collect,” the official said of Israel.

The heightened alert comes as President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have clashed on the war with Iran and Israeli military operations in Lebanon, including a reported tense call this past week.

Israel is keenly interested in whether Trump decides to resume major combat operations against Iran or pursue a negotiated end to the war, said current and former US officials and outside experts.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington denied the report, saying it is “completely false” that Israel conducts intelligence gathering on US government officials. The Pentagon declined to comment, while a White House official described the story as false.

Emily Harding, vice president of the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described Israel as having a “hyper-aggressive intelligence service.”

“They are exceedingly interested in what we are up to,” she added.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22