Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel [View all]

The Defense Department has increased the counterintelligence threat assessment to its highest level, and Israel is believed to have eavesdropped on American negotiations with Iran.

President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last December. The United States and Israel were largely aligned at the war’s outset, with Mr. Trump endorsing Mr. Netanyahu’s goal to oust the Iranian government.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

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Another report, written by the Defense Intelligence Agency and other military intelligence offices and focused on earlier events going back several years, said that the counterintelligence threat level posed by Israel had been increased in recent weeks to the top level, from high to critical. The report, to which the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency contributed, outlines various efforts by Israel to spy on American military personnel and government officials.

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

Intelligence reports suggest that Israel has stepped up its efforts to eavesdrop on U.S. officials, including Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s top negotiator, seen with Mr. Trump and his defense secretary in March.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

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The report says counterintelligence incidents began increasing in late 2024, as the Biden administration pressed Israel to curb its attacks on Gaza, and continued into 2025, as the Trump administration weighed options to attack Iran.

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.

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Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, seen at a Senate hearing in March, is also said to have been a target of Israeli espionage efforts.Credit...Eric Lee for The New York Times

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/06/us/politics/pentagon-sees-growing-espionage-threat-from-israel.html