Pentagon said to raise Israel spying threat assessment to critical

The Pentagon's intelligence arm has reportedly raised its assessed threat level for Israeli spying from high to critical, according to US media reports published on Friday and Saturday. The change is said to have been made in recent weeks and reflects concern about increased surveillance activity directed at senior US officials. The reports say the issue is linked to White House deliberations over the war with Iran and stalled efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire.

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The assessment is attributed to the Defense Intelligence Agency, which sits within the Pentagon and produces intelligence for the US military and senior policymakers. The reports say the shift followed an uptick in activity beginning in late 2024 and continuing into 2025. They also say unnamed US officials described efforts to monitor figures including the president's special envoy Steve Witkoff, a top Pentagon policy official Elbridge Colby, and his deputy Michael DiMino IV.

The Pentagon did not immediately comment publicly, while an unnamed spokesperson quoted in the reports denied the claims. The reported change matters because it points to strain inside one of Washington's closest security relationships at a moment of wider conflict. The reports link the concern to the US-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28 and has been mostly paused since an April 8 ceasefire.

They also say the two governments have diverged publicly over how to end the war, with Donald Trump saying he wants it brought to a close and Benjamin Netanyahu calling for it to resume. That divergence gives the intelligence assessment added significance because it touches on both diplomacy and military planning. The reports say the alleged surveillance was aimed at understanding internal White House discussions about ending the war.

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They also say the DIA's concern was shaped by what it saw as increasingly aggressive tactics. According to the reporting, the activity intensified after the Biden administration increased pressure on Israel over the war in Gaza, then continued after Trump returned to the presidency and began weighing his approach to Iran. The reports do not say what specific intelligence methods were involved or how the threat level was formally applied.

The episode also sits within a longer pattern of mutual suspicion and intelligence activity between allies, although the reports stress that Israel has long been known to spy on the United States. In this case, the focus appears to be on the intersection of war policy, ceasefire talks and high-level diplomacy. The mention of Witkoff is notable because he had been the lead negotiator in nuclear talks before the initial US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to the reports.

That places the alleged surveillance in the middle of sensitive negotiations rather than a purely bilateral intelligence dispute. What remains unclear is whether the reported threat-level change has been formally adopted across the US government or whether it reflects a narrower intelligence assessment. It is also not clear what evidence underpins the reported concerns, beyond the unnamed officials cited in the coverage.

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