A report published Saturday in the U.S. reveals that the Pentagon recently raised Israel’s espionage threat level against the United States to the highest category. According to two current U.S. officials and one former official, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued a new threat assessment.
The new assessment comes amid Pentagon concerns that Israel is ramping up efforts to monitor senior American officials in order to obtain information about internal discussions and decision-making in President Donald Trump’s administration regarding Middle East conflicts. A spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Washington flatly rejected the claims, stating that “Israel does not collect intelligence on American entities, and certainly not on American administration officials.”
A White House official also addressed the report, saying “the entire story is false and originates from someone with no knowledge of what is happening.” The DIA assessment includes a seven-page document with a chart indicating that Israel’s capability to conduct human espionage and technical collection is at a “critical level.”
The main practical implication of raising the threat level is increased caution by senior American officials when traveling to Israel or meeting with Israeli counterparts. However, officials noted there is no impact on the high-level intelligence sharing that takes place daily between the two countries, particularly regarding the conflict with Iran.