Pentagon Raises Alarm Over Israeli Espionage

The Pentagon’s intelligence arm has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment for Israel to its highest level, amid growing concern in Washington that Israeli intelligence agencies have intensified efforts to monitor senior American officials involved in negotiations over Iran and regional ceasefire diplomacy.

The Defense Intelligence Agency had elevated Israel’s threat designation to “critical” in an internal assessment. According to New York Times, the concerns extended to alleged Israeli efforts to gather intelligence on Trump administration officials directly involved in Iran policy, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, and senior Pentagon official Michael DiMino.

The assessment followed a series of incidents that alarmed U.S. counterintelligence officials, including the discovery by American defense personnel in Israel of software allegedly capable of intercepting communications on their phones. One senior official cited by the Times described the scale and aggressiveness of the alleged Israeli intelligence effort as “unhinged.”

The reports suggest that U.S. officials believe Israel has been seeking insight into internal American deliberations over Iran, including Washington’s negotiating position and possible terms for ending or limiting the conflict.

The alleged espionage concerns have emerged at a moment of unusual strain between Washington and Tel Aviv, as President Donald Trump has pushed for a diplomatic track with Tehran while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pressed for a harder military line.

Israel’s embassy in Washington strongly denied the allegations, calling them “completely false” and saying Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities or U.S. government officials. The White House also dismissed the reporting as false, while the Pentagon declined to comment publicly on the reported DIA assessment.

The two countries maintain one of Washington’s closest military and intelligence partnerships, but their interests have repeatedly diverged over Iran. Similar allegations surfaced during the Obama administration, when U.S. officials accused Israel of spying on nuclear negotiations with Tehran and using the information to lobby Congress against a deal.

The current dispute reflects a broader struggle over who controls the diplomatic endgame of the Iran conflict. For Washington, the reported concern is that an ally may be trying to obtain sensitive information about U.S. decision-making at the very moment the administration is attempting to negotiate. For Israel, any U.S. move toward a settlement with Iran risks limiting its freedom of action and reshaping the regional balance in ways Netanyahu’s government has long opposed.

The allegations, if confirmed, would add a new layer of mistrust to an already tense alliance. They would also revive the long history of intelligence cooperation shadowed by periodic claims of Israeli spying on American targets, from the Jonathan Pollard case in the 1980s to later disputes over Iran diplomacy.