U.S. Intelligence Elevates Israel to 'Critical' Counterintelligence Threat

Overview

• On Saturday, U.S. outlets including NBC News and The New York Times reported that the Defense Intelligence Agency recently raised Israel’s counterintelligence rating to “critical,” its highest internal level.
• The DIA assessment is described by officials as a multi-page review that uses a chart to say Israeli human espionage and technical collection capabilities have reached a critical level.
• The New York Times named specific alleged targets in the reporting, saying U.S. intelligence focused on efforts to monitor senior officials such as Steve Witkoff, Elbridge Colby and Michael DiMino and that some U.S. personnel found spyware on phones.
• Both the White House and the Israeli embassy in Washington publicly denied the accounts and the Pentagon declined to comment on the reports.
• For now U.S. staff have tightened operational security with temporary devices and travel rules, but analysts warn the assessment could lead to formal limits on what intelligence and operational details the U.S. shares with Israeli officers and complicate joint military planning.