The Pentagon has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to the highest possible level on concerns about increasingly aggressive Israeli espionage targeting US officials, NBC News reported Friday.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) issued the new assessment in recent weeks, elevating Israel’s threat designation to “critical,” according to two current and one former US official cited by the network.
The move stems from concerns that Israel is making a particular effort to monitor senior US officials to gain insight into the Trump administration’s internal deliberations on Middle East conflicts, said officials.
Citing current officials, the report noted that the DIA assessment includes a seven-page document identifying specific incidents that heightened US concerns.
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“Hyper-aggressive intelligence service”
The heightened alert comes as President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have clashed on the war with Iran and Israeli military offensives in Lebanon, including a reported tense call this past week.
