Pentagon Elevates Israeli Spying Threat to ‘Critical’ as U.S.-Israel Tensions Rise
The Pentagon has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to the highest level, according to U.S. officials, a striking shift that reflect...
The Pentagon has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to the highest level, according to U.S. officials, a striking shift that reflects deepening concern inside Washington over spying risks from one of America’s closest allies.
Defense Intelligence Agency officials moved the rating to “critical” in recent weeks, the sources said, after growing worries that Israel has intensified efforts to collect information on top U.S. officials and internal White House deliberations tied to the war with Iran. The change, first reported by U.S. media, marks a sharp rise from the previous “high” designation.
Inside the new assessment
The DIA circulated an internal message raising the level, and one current U.S. official said the agency also prepared a seven-page document with a chart assessing Israel’s human espionage and technical collection abilities at a “critical level.” The assessment centers on surveillance concerns rather than any single public incident.
Officials said the Pentagon fears Israeli intelligence efforts are aimed at learning how the Trump administration is weighing next steps in the Middle East conflict. The issue has sharpened as tensions have risen between Washington and Jerusalem over the war with Iran and the question of how, or whether, to end it.
A rare move against a close ally
The shift is politically sensitive. Israel has long been treated as a top U.S. partner in the region, but the new assessment suggests mistrust has spread deep enough to reshape the Pentagon’s own counterintelligence posture. The public disclosure also lands at a moment when the U.S. and Israel have diverged over strategy, with President Donald Trump saying he wants the war brought to a close while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a harder line.
That divide has already fed wider instability. Oil prices rose after renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities and threats around the Red Sea intensified, a reminder that intelligence moves in Washington can quickly spill into markets and security planning far beyond the Middle East.
For now, the DIA assessment stands as a blunt warning from inside the U.S. security apparatus: the threat it sees from Israel is no longer routine. It is “critical.”
