The Pentagon has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment of Israel to “critical,” its highest designation, NBC News and The New York Times reported, citing current and former US officials.
The Defense Intelligence Agency issued the new assessment in recent weeks in an internal message, the officials said. The designation stems from concerns that Israel is surveilling top US officials to obtain information on the Trump administration’s internal deliberations over the wars in Iran and Lebanon.
According to the reports, those targeted include US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, and Colby’s deputy Michael DiMino IV. The DIA assessment includes a seven-page document describing specific incidents that raised US concern, officials said, and concluded that Israel’s human and technical intelligence collection had reached a “critical level.”
The Israeli Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations, stating that Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials, and calling the reports “completely false.” A White House official also said the story was false. The Pentagon declined to comment.
The reported assessment comes amid growing friction between Washington and Israel over the direction of the conflict with Iran.
