The US Department of Defense has raised the counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to its highest level, rated “critical.” It has done so after detecting an increase in espionage activities directed towards senior officials of the US Government, even though both States call themselves friends, partners and loyalists.
According to reports from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and other military intelligence offices revealed by US media such as NBC and The New York Timesthe measure was adopted in recent weeks due to growing concerns that Tel Aviv’s spy agencies are aggressively trying to intercept the internal deliberations of President Donald Trump’s teams, especially on conflicts in the Middle East and strategy regarding Iran.
Official sources told the aforementioned media that, although Washington and Tel Aviv are close allies and have traditionally maintained – and even tolerated – certain reciprocal surveillance activities, recent Israeli efforts have “crossed the line.”
The most thorny
The Pentagon’s main focus of concern lies in Israel’s alleged attempts to listen to American negotiators working on a possible agreement with Iran, a country against which both Washington and Tel Aviv jointly attacked on February 28. Now, the Americans are negotiating with the Iranians, with the mediation of countries like Pakistan, but without including those of Benjamin Netanyahu, who really prefer to extend the offensive to deepen their objectives (from the end of the regime to the erasure of the nuclear program and the manufacture of missiles, through the cessation of aid to the Axis of Resistance in the region).
According to intelligence reports now known, among the senior officials identified as targets of these operations are Steve Witkoff, who is the White House’s main negotiator for conflicts such as the Middle East and Ukraine; Elbridge A. Colby, the Pentagon’s top policy official, and one of his top deputies, Michael P. DiMino IV.
Reports add that counterintelligence incidents began to increase in late 2024, as the moribund administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden pressured Israel to reduce its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. However, one senior official described the aggressiveness of information gathering on Donald Trump’s current cabinet as having become “out of control.”
Spy technology on official phones
The tightening of the alert by the Pentagon also occurs after US Defense personnel stationed in Israel reported the discovery of spyware installed on their mobile phones to intercept communications. It is not new, in a country from which, for example, the Pegasus of which we have had so much news in Spain comes.
It is another parallel controversy: reports detail that Israeli espionage has been facilitated because some senior US officials use personal phones to attend to national security matters. The same thing happens with private planes of donors or private friends. An addition and continuation that does not leave this Administration in a good place either, the same one that put journalists in a private chat about the attacks on Yemen or used personal Gmail accounts to discuss National Security matters.
In response to the weaknesses detected, the US military has implemented strict protocols and additional security measures to protect its electronic devices and restrict the channels in which highly confidential matters are discussed.
The DIA’s assessment includes a specific seven-page dossier, accompanied by detailed graphs that describe Israel’s capabilities in human intelligence and technical data collection, concluding that they represent a latent and direct counterintelligence risk.
White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff speaks by phone at Windsor Castle, England, during a state visit, September 17, 2025.
That espionage that you tell me about
Despite the seriousness of what was published, public reactions have been absolute rejection by those involved. A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington described the accusations as “completely false,” ensuring that the country’s intelligence efforts are directed exclusively at its adversaries and not at its strategic allies, EFE maintains.
For his part, a White House official dismissed the report, alleging that the information is incorrect and comes from sources that lack real knowledge about the situation and that are opposed to the attack on Iran, the Israeli newspaper maintains. The Jerusalem Post. “In other words, there have always been ‘America First’ forces within the US, and even within the Pentagon, who oppose US intervention in Iran and are angry at Israel for its role in convincing US President Donald Trump to go to war,” he says.
The Pentagon, following its usual line on intelligence matters ordered by its boss, Pete Hegseth, has declined to comment so far, while the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has also not issued statements on the matter.
This raising of the alert to a “critical” level – which places Israel’s counterintelligence risk above that usually assigned to other foreign powers – comes at a time of political friction between the leaders of the two countries, Netanyahu and Trump, which have been made public in media such as Axios. The most notorious clash is from last week, when the Republican shouted on the phone at the Likud leader: “What the hell are you doing?! (…) You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in jail if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Now everyone hates you. Everyone hates Israel for this.”
Furthermore, it coincides with the debate in the US Congress to expand cooperation in defense technology with its main ally in the region, which is becoming tense on the right and left: some Republicans, upset with the incursion into Iran, fear that Tel Aviv is dragging Trump into a plan that only benefits him, so they are betting on slowing down aid; in the Democratic Party, meanwhile, the groups most favorable to Palestine also raise the need to stop this cooperation. Support for Israel, politically and popularly, has never been lower: 60% of Americans surveyed now have a negative view of Israel, the Pew Center maintains.
