Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israel spying to ‘critical’

Department reports rise concerns astir accrued espionage enactment amid US-Israeli warfare with Iran, ceasefire talks.

The Pentagon’s quality limb has raised the assessed menace level connected Israeli spying from “high” to “critical” successful caller weeks, according to US media.

NBC News archetypal broke quality of the alteration connected Friday, with The New York Times issuing its ain study the pursuing day.

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The quality outlets cited anonymous sources arsenic saying the power came in airy of concerns implicit progressively assertive tactics related to the US-Israeli warfare with Iran.

They said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had raised the alert level amid fears that Israel is progressively attempting to surveil apical US officials. The purpose is allegedly to recognize interior White House deliberations astir ending the war.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu person publicly diverged successful their attack to the war, which the US and Israel started connected February 28.

Trump, connected 1 hand, has repeatedly said helium wants to bring the warfare to a close, amid mounting governmental unit astatine home.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, has called for warfare to resume, contempt an April 8 ceasefire. The warring has been mostly paused since the impermanent truce was announced, but efforts to scope a lasting statement person repeatedly stalled.

The New York Times reported that, portion Israel has been known to spy connected the US, the DIA cited an uptick successful activities opening successful precocious 2024, arsenic the medication of US President Joe Biden accrued unit connected Israel implicit its genocidal warfare successful Gaza.

That summation continued into 2025, arsenic Trump returned to the presidency and began deliberating astir however to attack Iran.

The paper added that different caller quality assessments person besides documented grounds that determination are Israeli efforts to show Trump’s peculiar envoy Steve Witkoff arsenic good arsenic Elbridge Colby, a apical argumentation authoritative astatine the Pentagon, and his lawman Michael DiMino IV.

Witkoff had been the pb negotiator successful atomic talks that preceded the archetypal US-Israeli onslaught connected Iran successful February.

Both NBC News and The New York Times cited unnamed US officials successful their reports. The US Department of Defense did not instantly respond to a petition for remark from Al Jazeera.

However, an unnamed spokesperson told some quality organisations that the reports were “false”.

Still, the reported concerns are apt to rise questions implicit the adjacent quality and subject coordination betwixt Israel and the US.

Washington has, for years, provided billions successful subject assistance and weapons income to Israel, including passim the genocide successful Gaza.

The US Congress is besides presently debating a section of a caller defence bill, which would integrate the 2 countries’ probe and improvement for weaponry to an unprecedented degree.

While the US and its allies are known to regularly behaviour quality operations connected each other, officials told some NBC and The New York Times that Israel’s caller vigour was unique.

The New York Times reported that the accrued DIA designation surpasses each existent allies, arsenic good arsenic a fistful of countries with much fraught relations.

Recent incidents included Israel’s subject quality trying to works listening devices astatine the DIA office successful 2021, according to the newspaper.

In 2025, Israel’s home quality agency, Shin Bet, was recovered to person tried to works a akin instrumentality successful a Secret Service vehicle, the study said.