NBC: Pentagon Intel Agency Says Israeli Espionage Threat to U.S. Now “Critical”

Israel is a major national security threat to the United States, a recent report from the Defense Intelligence Agency says.

Disclosed by NBC News, the agency has raised its espionage threat level from Israel to “critical.” The Israelis are spying on U.S. diplomats who are negotiating with Iran to end the senseless war the United States began at Israel’s behest. The Israelis are also spying on other top officials, including those in the Defense Department.

Israel’s latest treachery is nothing new. A few years ago, Israeli spies were caught attempting to plant listening devices at Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters. And famously, American traitor Jonathan Pollard spied for Israel in the mid 1980s, turning over secrets to Israel that likely went to the Soviet Union.

Of late, Israel’s espionage campaign has become “unhinged,” an official told The New York Times.

The revelations about Israel’s spying follow a U.S. House Committee’s passing a measure, conceived by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries.

NBC Report

“Two U.S. officials” and “one former official,” the network reported, said Israel is increasing its espionage operations.

“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,” NBC reported:

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.

Also citing officials, the Times disclosed the target of Israel’s skulduggery: “Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s top negotiator, Elbridge A. Colby, the Pentagon’s top policy official, and one of his main deputies, Michael P. DiMino IV.”

Of course, Israel and its pals in the White House denied the claim.

“Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials,” an Israeli spokesman told NBC. “Israel intelligence collection efforts are aimed at its enemies, not its allies. Any claims to the contrary are either misinformed or politically motivated.”

“This entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what’s going on,” the White House said.

The Pentagon clammed up.

Times Report

The DIA report “was drafted after incidents in which American defense personnel in Israel detected that software to tap their communications had been surreptitiously installed on their phones,” the Times reported.

While “our most reliable ally” has always spied on the United States, its efforts of late are becoming a major concern for U.S. officials.

“Israel’s counterintelligence threat level is now higher than any other ally and higher than some adversarial countries,” the Times continued:

Of American allies, only South Korea, which is rated at high in certain situations, approaches the concern with Israel’s espionage efforts, the officials said. 

The aggressiveness of the Israeli intelligence collection on top U.S. officials during the second Trump administration has been “unhinged,” one senior official said.

Two senior U.S. military officials said that American personnel, particularly those serving in Israel or with Israeli counterparts, were well aware of the counterintelligence risks before the new report.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments, said U.S. personnel employ a range of security procedures and protocols to help counter the threat and to protect their cellphones and other electronic devices, especially while traveling in Israel, but declined to describe those measures in detail for security reasons. …

Israel intensified its espionage campaign in 2024 when the Biden administration began pressing it to stop the slaughter in Gaza. And it continued last year “as the Trump administration weighed options to attack Iran,” the Times continued:

The report, which incorporated contributions from a number of military intelligence agencies, also details several episodes in recent years. In 2021, Israeli military intelligence officers were caught planting listening devices at D.I.A. headquarters. Last year, officers from Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, were discovered to have tried to plant a listening device in a Secret Service vehicle.

Reaction

Former U.S. counterterrorism director Joe Kent stated the obvious. The U.S-Israel relationship must change. Aid to Israel must end.

“We give Israel unprecedented access to facets of our government and electoral systems, enabling their overt influence over our foreign policy,” he wrote on X over the NBC report:

Like any competent intel service, they take advantage of that access to further Israel’s agenda, at the expense of Americans. 

Our entire relationship with Israel must be redefined — immediately. We need to be clear-eyed going forward and should treat them like a foreign country with different objectives than ours, because they are.

Over a screenshot of the Times report, he continued:

Israel targeting senior U.S. officials cannot be accepted by our government. 

This is not standard practice, especially considering the fact that Israel survives on our defense funding & diplomatic top cover. 

Until we actually take away the support we give Israel they will keep playing us as fools.