WASHINGTON, June 7 (ANI) — The Pentagon has elevated concerns regarding Israeli espionage activities, warning that senior U.S. officials could become targets of intensified surveillance amid widening strategic differences between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the conflict with Iran.
According to an NBC News report, two current U.S. officials and one former official said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recently raised Israel’s counterintelligence threat designation to “critical,” its highest internal assessment level.
One current official told NBC News that the United States already implements stringent security measures during official visits to Israel, noting that Israeli intelligence agencies have long been viewed as aggressive collectors of information.
However, a White House official rejected the report, describing it as “false” and based on sources lacking knowledge of the events.
“The U.S. already takes extra precautions when visiting Israel,” one current official told NBC News, noting that Israeli intelligence agencies have long been viewed as particularly aggressive information gatherers.
Those precautions reportedly include the use of temporary computers, burner phones, and highly restricted communications protocols during high-level visits.
Former diplomats, intelligence officials, and security experts told NBC News that senior U.S. officials often avoid discussing sensitive matters in hotel rooms or other locations considered vulnerable to surveillance while in Israel.
The intelligence reassessment reflects growing concern within parts of the U.S. defense establishment that Israel may be attempting to gather information about the Trump administration’s internal deliberations regarding Middle East conflicts.
According to officials familiar with the matter, the DIA circulated an internal notice in recent weeks along with a seven-page assessment outlining concerns about Israel’s intelligence-gathering capabilities.
One official said the report concluded that Israel’s capabilities in both human intelligence and technical intelligence collection should be regarded as operating at a “critical” level.
The internal assessment reportedly cited several factors behind the heightened concern, although officials said they were unaware of any single incident that directly triggered the decision.
The reclassification is expected to primarily affect American personnel traveling to Israel or engaging with Israeli counterparts.
Current and former officials noted that additional security precautions are likely to be implemented, although routine intelligence-sharing between the United States and Israel is expected to continue.
Emily Harding, vice president of the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described Israeli intelligence operations as highly aggressive.
“They are exceedingly interested in what we are up to,” Harding told NBC News.
Israel has firmly denied the allegations.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington dismissed claims that Israel spies on U.S. officials as “completely false.”
“Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone U.S. government officials,” the spokesperson said, adding that Israeli intelligence operations are focused on adversaries rather than allies.
A White House official also rejected the allegations, describing the report as inaccurate and asserting that its source lacked knowledge of the situation.
Although intelligence gathering among allied nations is not uncommon, current and former U.S. officials told NBC News they viewed the alleged Israeli activities as extending beyond the boundaries typically tolerated between close partners.
The concerns emerge at a particularly sensitive moment in U.S.-Israel relations.
Tensions between Trump and Netanyahu reportedly surfaced during a recent phone conversation regarding developments in West Asia.
The U.S. president later acknowledged calling the Israeli leader “crazy,” fueling speculation that the two leaders are diverging on long-term strategic objectives in the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Axios reported that Trump and Netanyahu engaged in a tense phone call during which Trump reportedly expressed anger over Israeli threats to resume airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
According to the report, Trump warned Netanyahu that such actions were damaging Israel’s international standing.
“Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” Trump reportedly told Netanyahu during the conversation. (ANI)
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